Airport Love
by Half-bloodAuror
Summary: Fox helps Dana out after she has an accident. They instantly fall for each other. I'm really bad at summaries. This is my first fic, so please be nice. This is completely AU, and rated a very strong T for strong language and suggestiveness in later chapters. You've been warned. Let me know if I need to change the rating. I hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

Dana Scully drove down the road to the airport. Monica Reyes was coming back to D.C. just in time for Christmas. Dana had volunteered to go pick her up from the airport. Monica was going to stay at Dana's apartment until it was time for her to go back to New York. Dana couldn't believe she hadn't seen her best friend in so long. Monica's plane would be landing in an hour or so. Dana was planning to be a little early, but at the rate she was going, she would be lucky to be there a few minutes after Monica's plane arrived. The roads were a lot icier then Dana had originally thought. She was irritated with herself for not checking the weather a while before she left work. She glanced at the clock. She had half an hour before Monica's plane would be landing.

"Damn it," she muttered. She was nowhere near, where she needed to be to be at the airport on time. Dana sighed and turned on the radio. She bobbed her head to the beat of the song, and tapped her hands on the steering wheel.

She closed her eyes for a second; she knew this road like the back of her hand. She was driving on autopilot, when she came to the curve where the most accidents happened. She didn't even think about it as she went around the curve. Suddenly, a car came zooming around it, obviously not seeing her at all.

"Fuck!" Dana yelled. She swerved to avoid the car. Her own car slid across the road. The rear end of her car was in a ditch. The other car was nowhere to be seen. Dana checked herself over; she was fine. She might have a bit of bruising from her seat belt locking when her car jerked, but other than that she was alright.

"What the hell am I gonna do now?" Dana said aloud. Monica would be landing soon. Dana picked up her cell phone to call Monica. Monica's phone was still off, so Dana left a message. "Hey, Mon, it's me. I'll be there as soon as I can to get you. Some asshole wasn't paying attention coming around the curve, you know the one with the most accidents ever, and my car is now partially in a ditch. I'll explain later. I'll try to be there soon, or maybe get John to come get you. Anyways, I'll definitely see you some time later today. I gotta go. Bye." Dana snapped her phone shut, and sighed.

Dana was stumped. She didn't know any numbers for tow trucks, and she didn't have a phone book, or even a map in her car. She had only ever been in one other accident, and it was her brother, Charlie, who had been driving. Her parents were so mad, vowed she'd never be in an accident. Since she drove so carefully when she still lived at home, she drove that way ever since.

She got out of the car to survey the damage to her car. She stood on the edge of the road, and looked at her car. She heard the sound of another car coming. It was coming from the same direction she was supposed to be going. Dana hurried off the road so the other car wouldn't hit her. The other car slowed as it saw her. It pulled up and stopped in front of her. She ignored them and went around to the back of the car. Dana liked to do things independently.

She heard the window roll down. "Hey!" someone called out the window, "Do you need any help?" Dana thought about it for a moment. She knew she would need help to get out of this situation. She finally looked at the man that was in the other car. He was about her age. He had dark, messy hair and hazel eyes. "Yeah, do you know any numbers for a tow truck?" she asked.

He looked through his phone. "No, I don't have any tow truck numbers, sorry. Is there anything else I can do?" the man said.

"That depends; where are you headed?"

"I'm going to the airport."

"Would you mind taking me with you? That's where I was headed."

"Sure."

Dana grabbed her purse and her cell phone from her passenger seat. She slammed the car door, and climbed into the stranger's car. She was smarter than this. She knew what could happen. She knew this wasn't the best idea that people weren't always as they seem. However, she was desperate and running out of ideas. Her family wasn't around this week, they had gone to Bill and Tara's for Christmas this year, and she forgot that John didn't get off work until after six tonight. This was her only option. The man started his car again, and they drove in silence for a few minutes before Dana realized she hadn't introduced herself. "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name's Dana Scully."

He looked at her and smiled. "That's a pretty name. My name's Fox Mulder, but no one calls me Fox. Everyone calls me Mulder." He said. They lapsed back into silence. Then, Mulder spoke again.

"You know, I didn't mean to sound creepy when I said that Dana was a pretty name. I just like the name."

Dana laughed, "That's ok. I didn't think anything of it."

Mulder smiled. "Music?" he asked.

Dana nodded. Mulder turned the music on low. "So, I don't mean to pry, but what do you do? For work, I mean?" Mulder asked.

Dana looked at him. "I'm a doctor. I work in the local hospital. Mostly, with children's cases. What about you?"

"Me? I work for the FBI. In an area called the X-Files."

"FBI, that sounds interesting. Much more so, than taking care of sick children, don't get me wrong, I love my job. However, sometimes I wish I did something else. So, why are you going to the airport? Going away for the holidays?"

"No, my mother is coming down for Christmas. I have to bring her to my apartment."

"Oh, do you live around here? No, never mind that's none of my business."

"It's alright. Yeah, I live in Arlington. What about you?"

"Georgetown. I was on my way to pick up my friend. She's coming back for the holidays. She lives in New York."

They talked to each other the rest of the ride to the airport. They walked into the airport together. When it came time for them to part ways, they were reluctant to move.

"Well, thank you so much for the ride. I would probably still be out there if it weren't for you," Dana said.

"No problem, I'm happy to help." Mulder said.

"Well, see ya."

Dana started to walk away. "Hey! Wait!" Mulder yelled to her. She turned around.

"Yes?" she questioned him.

"Would you um…like to…go out with me sometime?" he said shyly and looked away.

Dana smiled and answered, "Sure." She pulled out a slip of paper from her purse, and jotted something down. "Here," she handed him the slip of paper, "That's my number. Call me."

He took the paper and stuck it in his pocket. "Thanks, I will," he said.

Dana walked away. She started looking around for Monica. Dana walked over to the baggage claim. She sat on a bench and pulled out her cell phone, preparing to call Monica. She pressed send, and heard a ringing behind her.

"Hello?" her friend answered. Dana heard the person answer on the bench behind her. "Hello?" Monica inquired again. Dana stood up, and walked around to the other bench. She snapped her phone shut, and the brunette sitting on the bench looked up.

"Hey!" Monica screamed, and jumped up and hugged Dana.

"Hi!" Dana yelled and hugged her back. "Did you get all your bags?"

"Mmm-hmm. I've been waiting here for almost 45 minutes."

"I know, I'm sorry, but I was lucky to get a ride. Anyways we have a problem. I'm not exactly sure how we're going to get home. My car is still in the ditch."

Monica shrugged, "We'll just take a taxi."

"Alright, let's head out to my house." The girls stood up and each grabbed a bag. They walked to the front of the airport, where they called a taxi. As they waited for it, Dana's phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey, I thought it was only fair that since I have your number that you get mine." Dana smiled as she recognized the voice. Mulder.

"That does seem fitting, doesn't it?" she joked with him.

"Yes, yes it does. So, this is my cell phone number, save it in your phone. Well, unfortunately, I have to be going. My mother's plane just landed, and I'm going to have to go find her. I just wanted to know if you had a way home. Do you?"

"Yes, we do, but thank you for checking."

"Ok, bye."

"Bye." Dana smiled as she hung up.

"Who was that?" Monica asked.

"Just a friend," Dana answered. She and Monica sat and waited for their taxi, which seemed to be taking forever.

She saw Mulder across the airport, and waved. He had suitcases in each hand, but he still nodded at her.

Monica followed Dana's gaze across the room. "Oh, you have so much to explain," she said as she looked back at Dana. Dana just smiled and continued watching Mulder until he disappeared out the airport doors, followed by an older woman who was quite obviously his mother. She couldn't wait until their date.

**I have Chapter 2 finished, let me know if i should post it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, here is Chapter 2. My friend didn't read this yet, so I don' t know if it sucks. Some people were really pushy for me to get this up. Lol, only kidding. I hope you guys like this. **

"Maybe this was a bad idea," Dana Scully said as Monica helped her pick out her outfit for her date with Mulder.

"You've got to be kidding! This is all you've talked about all week, and now you want to back out? Hell no! I am not letting you do that to yourself. You like this guy…a lot. And I wanna know all the details," Monica ranted.

"Alright, alright! I'll go, Mon. I'm just nervous," Dana sighed.

"Nervous? Why? From what you told me, you guys hit it off right from the start."

"Yeah, I'm not denying that we had chemistry. I like him; that's why I'm nervous."

"Dana, you have nothing to be worried about. Go, have fun… maybe get some," Monica smiled when she said that. Dana blushed. Monica looked at her friend, and laughed. She pulled out a short, black dress for Dana to put on.

"What are you doing? I am not wearing that." Dana looked at her friend skeptically.

"Oh come on, Dana. You'll look great and you know it."

Dana sighed, "Alright, give me the dress." Monica smiled and handed over the dress. Dana gave her one last glare before walking into the bathroom to change.

"Hurry up! You still need to do your hair and make-up! It doesn't take that long to put a dress on!" Monica yelled through the door. Dana had been in there nearly 20 minutes. The door slowly started to open. Monica sat on the edge of Dana's bed as she muted the TV she had been watching. Dana stepped out. She had on the black dress, that reached mid-thigh, but, it turned out, she had also done her make-up and curled her hair. The eye shadow made her sparkly blue eyes pop.

"Oh my god! You look amazing!" Monica gushed.

"Are you sure?" Dana asked as she leaned down and tugged the hem of her dress slightly. Monica stood up and slapped her hand away.

"Stop doing that! You look great!" Monica rolled her eyes and laid back down on Dana's bed when she saw Dana looking in the mirror biting her lip, and flattening the dress with the palms of her hands. Dana glanced at the clock on her bedside table. 6:45. "I told Mulder I'd meet him downstairs at 7:30," Dana murmured to herself.

"What's that?" Monica asked, looking up from the TV again.

"Nothing," Dana said, shaking her head, "just talking to myself." Monica nodded and went back to her show.

Monica head suddenly shot up and she exclaimed, "What are you going to do for shoes?"

"Oh shit," Dana said as she looked down at her bare feet. "I have no idea."

"Come on," Monica beckoned Dana to sit on the bed. "Monica to the rescue!" Monica exclaimed and ran into her friend's closet. Dana shook her head. Her friend was such a dork.

Dana couldn't see her in the closet, but she could hear her rustling through her very impressive shoe collection. "No, no, no," Monica said as she threw another pair of shoes out into the bedroom.

"Uh, Mon, I have to leave in like five minutes. Do you think we could hurry this up?" Dana inquired.

Monica ignored her and tossed a few more pairs of shoes out. "I got it!" she yelled as she immerged from the closet. Dana put the sparkly heels, her sister made her buy when they went to visit Monica in New York, on and stood up. "Spin," Monica ordered, "Perfect! You are good to go."

Dana glanced at the clock. 7:23. "I gotta go, Mon. See ya later," Dana said as she walked towards the door. She grabbed her purse and jacket off the kitchen table. Just as she was about to walk out the door, Monica yelled, "Dana! Do you care if I invite John over tonight while you're gone?"

Dana laughed, "Go right ahead, but I swear if I find out you two did anything in my bed I will kill you."

Monica laughed, "Ok, we'll stay out of your room, but what about mine?"

Dana laughed, "Your changing your own sheets." With that, she walked out the door.

Dana was about to walk out of the elevator just as Mulder walked into the lobby. "He looks hot," she thought before she could stop herself. He was wearing what was pretty obviously one of his work suits. However, it fit him well and, if you really looked, you could see some of his muscles.

He didn't see her and went to ask which apartment was hers at the front desk. The elevators doors began to shut. She stuck her hand out to stop it and quickly walked out when other people in there began to grumble.

"Mulder!" she called across the room. He turned around and looked around confused, obviously not recognizing her voice. When he saw her, his jaw dropped. Although she only had light make-up on her eyes nearly popped out of her skull. Her heels made her legs look so much longer. She was short, but it didn't seem like it at the moment. And her dress was showing just enough thigh to make him wonder things that were not appropriate for a first date. He realized he was staring and closed his mouth hoping she didn't notice as she made her way over. She had. She bit her lip, not knowing if he was staring because he was disgusted by her appearance, or because he liked what he saw. She hoped for the latter.

He pulled himself together, and smiled at her as she stood in front of him. "Hey," he said. It was all he could manage. He hadn't quite pulled himself together yet.

She smiled. "Hey, yourself."

He held out his arm. "Shall we?" he asked.

"Let's," she replied taking his arm.

He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "You look beautiful tonight, by the way." She looked up at him with wide eyes. 'Did he really just say that?' she thought. He pretended not to notice her looking at him. He acted as if he never even said anything, but he was glad he had. He could tell she was glad he had too.

They walked out to his car. They walked up to the passenger side and Mulder opened the door for her. She smiled and climbed in. Mulder walked around behind the car, opened his door, and slid into the driver's seat. Dana rubbed her arms and shivered. Mulder noticed and turned on the heat.

"Thanks," Dana muttered. Mulder just nodded and focused on pulling onto the busy street.

After a few attempts, in all of them he was cut-off, he said, "Geez, Dana, do you have to live next to such a crowded road?"

She giggled, "It's not my fault you don't know how to properly drive in D.C." He glared at her and tried to pull out again. This time he was successful.

"Finally," he muttered, "Alright, let's talk about something that isn't my poor driving skills, shall we?"

Dana nodded, "Any interesting cases you're working on that you can tell me about?"

"Nah, things have been pretty slow down in the X-Files office this week." That was true, but Mulder had made sure that any cases, that weren't in the D.C. area, were postponed until next week. He really wanted to have this first date with Dana, giving her a ride because her car was stuck in a ditch didn't count as anything. "What about you, Doctor Scully? Anything interesting come through the hospital this week?"

She smiled. "There wasn't anything that really caught my attention. One kid did come in with some pretty bad surgical injuries. I did a lot of post-ops this week." 'Too make sure I made this date,' she added in her head.

"What happened to him?" Mulder asked.

"I don't know for sure. I heard a lot of different things. That's the way a hospital is, gossipy when things get boring."

They rode in a comfortable silence the rest of the way to the restaurant. When Mulder pulled into a parking place, they heard the crack of thunder over their heads. Neither had noticed that the sky had considerably darkened without the light of the moon anymore. Mulder got out and walked around to open Dana's door. He takes her hand as she steps out.

"We better hurry before we get caught in the storm. It looks like it's going to be pretty bad," Dana said. She was always the voice of reason.

"Yeah, let's go," Mulder agreed. He held out his arm for her to take. They smiled and walked to the entrance.

Mulder directed them to the area where they seated people. "Reservations for Mulder," he said.

"Alright," a waiter said as he looked through a computer. "I got it right here." He led them to their table. "Here you go." The waiter set down their menus.

They sat down opposite each other. "What are you gonna get, Scully?"

"Since when do you call me 'Scully'?" Dana inquired.

"Since I decided I wanted to because you call me 'Mulder'."

"I could call you Fox, if that would make you feel better," she joked.

Mulder cringed. "I'm ok with 'Mulder', but I like calling you 'Scully'. It just sounds right." Scully shrugged.

The waiter came back and asked what they wanted to drink. Mulder told the waiter what they had decided on. The waiter left again.

"Scully, why did you decide to become a doctor?" Mulder inquired, trying to make conversation.

"Well, I don't know. Ever since I was younger, going to medical school to become a doctor just seemed right," Scully replied. "What about you? Why did you join the FBI?"

"Actually, I went to Oxford to study psychology. I was recruited by the Bureau for applying behavioral attitudes to criminal cases. I decided the FBI didn't seem like such a bad idea, so I joined," Mulder explained.

"The Bureau tried to recruit me. I turned them down. I like being a doctor."

"Imagine if we had been partners. That would have been interesting." Mulder laughed.

"I can see it now. We'd have been lucky if they didn't fire us." Scully smiled.

Before they knew it, it was time for Mulder to take Scully home. Holding her hand, Mulder directed out to the car. They both got in.

"Do I need to drive? Or do you think you'll be able to get out this time?" Scully teased.

Mulder looked at her and stuck out his tongue.

Scully giggled. "I'm only kidding. I won't hold those poor skills against you."

"Oh I was worried that you thought I wouldn't have any skills. Here, or anywhere else, if you know what I mean." Mulder winked.

Scully understood and shook her head. "I can't believe you just said that."

"But I'm sure you believe in my skills," Mulder teased her.

They bantered with each other all the way back to Scully's apartment building. Mulder parked the car and walked her into her building. She got in the elevator and turned around to say goodnight, but was surprised to see that he was going up with her. He stood beside her, his hand brushing hers. They both got out on Scully's floor. He had no idea which apartment was hers, but he followed her until she stopped at a door. He looked at the number, and put it in his head for future reference. She turned around to look at him.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," Scully whispered almost so he couldn't hear her.

"Me too, we should definitely do this again," Mulder whispered back.

Scully nodded.

Mulder leaned over her as she leaned her back against her door. He brought his face down slightly leaving room for her to back out if she didn't want this. Scully closed the gap between them. Their kiss was slow and gentle. Mulder was the first to pull away, his eyes full of excitement.

"I'll call you tomorrow, ok?" Mulder asked. He sounded like an idiot, even to himself. He didn't care, and he knew she didn't either. Their kiss was amazing on both ends.

"Ok," she muttered. She couldn't stop smiling.

"Bye," he said. He didn't take his eyes off her as he started to walk away.

"Bye," she echoed him. She couldn't help but giggle when he ran into the edge of the wall because he was too busy looking at her.

She slowly unlocked the door as she heard the elevator doors close. She walked into her apartment. She saw Monica and John sitting on the couch, watching a movie. He had his arm around her and she was leaning into his side. She lifted her head when she heard the door open.

"Oh, hey, Dana, how'd it go?" Monica looked at her friend expectantly.

"It was…fun," Scully knew that wasn't the answer she was looking for, but her brain didn't want to think about anything, except that kiss. It wasn't as if it was a fantastic kiss, but the fact that it had been him kissing her made it fantastic. Scully walked straight into her bedroom, not even saying 'hi' to John, not that he noticed. She took off her heels and tossed them in her closet. She also set her jacket on her bed.

Monica nodded. She knew her friend would tell her everything, probably after John left. She settled back into her boyfriend's side, and went back to watching their movie. He looked down at her.

"You ok?" he asked.

"I couldn't be better," she replied, looking up at him. She leaned up from her curled position in his side to kiss him. He kissed her back. It quickly became something more than Monica had originally intended, though she didn't mind. She had missed John considerably.

Scully walked back out of her bedroom in her bare feet. She went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge. On her way there, she glanced into the living room, and saw John and Monica making out passionately. She rolled her eyes and kept going to the kitchen. She got a bottle of water out of the fridge, and took a swig of water. She took the bottle with her when she left the kitchen. On impulse, she glanced into the living room as she went by. While she had been in the kitchen, they had both managed to get the other's shirt off. John had gotten Monica's bra off too; luckily, Monica had her back to Scully. All Scully could see was John's chest.

"Oh God!" Dana yelled, "Get a room you too!"

Monica blushed as she and John broke there kiss. She looked sheepish, but John just looked flushed with arousal. He stuck his hands under her butt, and lifted her. She automatically wrapped her legs around his waist. John started walking backwards toward the guest room where Monica was staying, as he started kissing Monica again.

Scully shook her head and walked into her own bedroom. Normally, Dana would have definitely scolded them more, but she was still reeling about her date. She had no idea why she enjoyed it as much as she did. She knew she liked Mulder, but she had liked other guys too. Whatever, she didn't really care. Scully laid down on her bed, still wearing her dress from her date. Eventually, she got up to change into pajamas. She sighed and got up to look in her dresser. She turned on her TV to drown out the noise that she could hear coming from down the hall. She pulled out a pair of silk pajamas, and changed. Scully went into the bathroom to take her make-up off. Dana walked back into her room. By now, it was almost midnight; she didn't know where the time had gone.

'I might as well go to bed now. I won't get time to talk to Monica tonight, anyways.' She thought.

Scully sighed when she saw that Monica had left some of the shoes still out in her room. It was obvious that she had put some away, and the ones that were left there were there because John had interfered while Monica had been cleaning. Scully decided she might as well put them away. As she was finishing put the last pairs of shoes away, Monica walked into her room in her pajamas.

"I would have done that, I was the one who threw them all out here." Monica sighed as she watched her friend emerge from the closet after putting the last pair of heels away.

"It's fine; you haven't had a chance to see John in weeks. Where is he anyway? I thought he'd stay," Scully replied.

"No, he's still here. He just fell asleep, and I wanted to hear about your date," Monica said as she sat down on Scully's bed.

Scully practically jumped on her bed like a teenager. "Well, at first he couldn't get out of his parking place. That was funny. Then, we just talked the whole ride there."

"What was he like? I mean was he a gentleman, or what?" Monica asked; she was excited to hear about this guy her friend had been obsessed with all week.

"Yeah, he was very gentlemanly. He always held his arm out for me, or held me hand. We only talked at the restaurant. Actually, when he dropped me off he walked me all the way back to the front door."

"He followed you? was it creepy?" Monica asked.

"No, he held my hand practically the whole way. It was sweet. Then, we…um… kissed outside the door."

"Oh my God!" Monica screamed. "You kissed!"

"Shhh, you said John was sleeping."

They continued talking. They were both laying on the their sides on opposite sides of Scully's bed. Eventually, Monica was the first to fall asleep. Dana smiled as she drifted off.

**Chapter 3 is underway. I'll post it as soon as possible. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Alrighty, here's Chapter 3. Hope you guys like it. It kind of jumps around to different characters thoughts. I would have posted this sooner, but my one friend is being an asshole and I had to deal with her. So without further delay, Chapter 3.**

John woke up alone in the morning. It took him a second to realize he was still at Dana's apartment. He remembered falling asleep with Monica in his arms last night. 'She must be up already,' he thought. He got up and went to find the girls. He couldn't hear them out in the kitchen or living room. As he walked down the hallway from Dana's guest room, he saw Scully's bedroom door was open. He looked in there to see if she was in there. He saw the two girls sleeping on opposite sides of the bed. 'Well that answers that,' John thought. He padded softly over to the right side, where Monica was. He brushed the strand of hair out of her face, and kissed her forehead. 'She's so beautiful,' he thought.

It was Saturday December 23. Monica had been staying with Scully since the 17th. She took some personal days before the rest of the force got off for Christmas. She wanted extra time to spend with her friends. John was upset that she would have to go back the 26th. They were all so excited to spend Christmas together.

Even though it was Saturday, John had to go to into work. He hated leaving her. He hadn't seen her in like forever. He also knew Dana had to go into work for the morning because she left early last night. She'd be back by mid-afternoon, but John still felt bad for leaving Monica alone during her time she was supposed to spend with them. He stood for a few minutes and watched Monica as she slept.

As if it was because of his gaze, Monica started to wake up. She lazily fluttered her eyes open.

"Hey," she murmured to him as she stretched. As she realized her surroundings, she said, "Oh, I guess I fell asleep here, sorry."

"It's fine. I have to leave now. Paperwork and all that crap. I'll come by and see you later, ok?" he asked as he leaned down to kiss her. She nodded almost imperceptibly as she kissed him back. They broke their kiss, and John stuck out his hand.

"Come on, we don't wanna wake Dana." They walked out into the living room.

John picked up his shirt and jacket, and walked to the door. "See ya later."

After John left, Monica started to make coffee. She knew Scully would have to get up soon to go into the hospital for the morning. A few minutes later, Monica heard the shrill of Dana's alarm…and the sound of Dana swearing while trying to turn it off. Monica laughed.

She smiled at Dana when she came out of her bedroom for coffee. Dana just glared at her. Monica handed the coffee over. Dana took it and started to sip it. She turned around and started to walk back to her room to get her clothes out for the day. Monica stayed in the kitchen and made herself some breakfast. It wasn't long before Monica heard the shower start to run.

While Dana was in the shower, Monica heard Dana's cell phone ring. Monica got up from the kitchen table to answer it. It was sitting on Dana's bedside table. Monica grabbed it. "Hello?" she inquired.

"Hi," a male voice answered. "I'm looking for Dana. Do I have the wrong number?"

"No, this is Dana's phone," Monica answered quickly. She didn't want to scare her best friend's boyfriend. "This is Monica. I'm staying at Dana's for Christmas."

"Oh, are you the friend she had to pick up at the airport?"

"Yes, and she's busy right now. I can tell her a message if you like," Monica said.

"No, that's ok. I'll call back later. Do you know when she'll be done with…whatever it is that she's doing?"

"I'd say not too much longer. At the most, maybe ten minutes," Monica guessed.

"Alright, thanks. Bye."

"Bye."

About 10 minutes later, Dana walked into the living room, drying her hair with a towel. Monica looked at her and said, "You're boyfriend called."

"He's not my boyfriend. We've only been out once. What did he say?"

"Well, when I answered, he thought he had the wrong number. I told him I was just staying here. I said you were busy, and that he could call back in like 10 minutes." Monica looked at her watch, "Which should be any minute now."

The phone went off right then. "I got it," Dana said, practically sprinted to her room for her phone.

'No shit, Sherlock,' Monica thought. 'I wonder if I acted like this when John and I first got together. Geez, I hope not.'

Dana grabbed her phone off her dresser. "Hello?" she inquired.

"Hey," Mulder's cheery voice said over the line. "I promised to call you today, so I did."

"Oh, is that what this is? I thought you'd call for pizza," Scully rolled her eyes. She knew he'd understand her sarcasm.

Mulder laughed. "Ok, pizza for our next date then, which I hope we can have soon. I had a lot of fun last night; I particularly liked the ending."

Scully grinned at the remembrance of the kiss. "I liked that part too, and I agree we need to go out again. On the other hand, we could stay in and have pizza. I'm ok with that too."

"Either is ok with me. I just like pizza…and you."

"That's sweet." Dana commented.

"So, what was it you were doing, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Showering; did you think I had someone else over here?"

"Maybe," Dana smiled as she realized he asked out of jealousy.

"Well, you friend didn't specify, and I wondered if there was a reason why."

"Yeah, because she didn't think it was ok for the best friend to tell the boyfriend that the girlfriend was showering, or at least that's how Monica would have put it. She would never think of doing something so…demeaning. She probably wasn't sure what was appropriate to tell you. Honestly, I don't care if you know I was showering. Alas, I do have to go. I have to go to the hospital for the morning."

"Aww, but we hardly got to talk at all," Mulder whined.

"Here's the deal, I'll call you after I get home, and we can talk all you want then. Does that sound better to you?" she teased him.

"Yes," he said with an obvious fake pout in his voice.

"Well, that means I have to go right now. I will call you when I'm done with work, ok?"

"Ok," he said happily. "I'll let you go then. Bye."

"Bye," Scully rolled her eyes at his childish responses. Although, she had to admit she did think it was cute.

Scully finished getting ready, and headed to the door. "Hey, Mon, I'm leaving. Be back probably around 1."

"See ya," Monica waved at her friend. "I'll be here."

Work seemed to go so slow today. Every time Scully looked at the clock the time seemed to almost go backwards. 'Come on, just another hour now.' Scully stared at the clock. Paperwork was so boring. She sighed, and looked back at the mountains of paperwork she still had to complete. She worked steadily for the next half hour. Then, her phone rang. "Dana Scully," she answered.

"Dr. Scully, we need you downstairs." A woman told her.

"I'll be right there," with that Scully hung up. She stood from her desk, and walked down the stairs. They didn't say it was anything urgent, but in the hospital, you never know. She walked briskly down the hall. She came to the nurses' station on the second floor. "Who called me?" she asked.

"Room 42, Dr. Scully," one of the nurses said.

"Thanks," Scully said as she walked away.

There seemed to be no one actually in the room. She walked in, and began to open the curtain that separates beds, but stopped in her tracks when she saw who was lying in the bed. "Melissa?" she asked.

Melissa sat with her arms across herself. Scully didn't notice she was staring at her sister's face. "Hey, sis. It's been a while."

"What are you doing here?!" Scully demanded.

"I thought I'd come visit you for Christmas, of course." Melissa joked.

"Missy, this isn't funny. Seriously, what's wrong? Why are you in here?" Scully looked at her sister very seriously. Melissa's smile fell.

"It's a long story."

"I'll take the time to listen."

Melissa sighed. "Well, a while ago, I thought I had a really bad case of the flu. However, after the morning I was ok. Then, it came back the next morning. I went to the local clinic. I found out that…well…mmmmm" Melissa mumbled the last part so quietly that Dana couldn't hear her.

"Miss, I couldn't hear the last part," Dana said as she rolled her eyes at her sister's childish notion.

"I said that, I found out I was," Melissa took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

Scully's jaw dropped. "How long ago did you find this out?"

"Oh, it's been a while." She said as she dropped her arms away from her body.

Scully saw her sister's protruding stomach. "Oh my god! You have to be at least 6 months along! Why didn't you tell me!?" Scully exclaimed.

Melissa looked sheepish. "I'm 7 months actually; I never wanted anyone to know. I wasn't going to keep the baby."

Scully's eyes widened. "You're kidding, right? You would never give up your baby. You couldn't; I know you. You'd never be able to do it, no matter how much you wanted to."

Melissa sighed, "I know, but I thought about it. I didn't know what to do. I broke up with the father at least a month before I even discovered I was pregnant."

"Awe, Miss." Scully went and sat on the edge of her bed. "Does anyone know?"

"No, and you wouldn't even have known if I hadn't passed out at an old friend's house. She's the one who called the ambulance."

"Why didn't you tell anyone? We would have helped you through this," Scully wrapped one arm around her older sister. Melissa looked at her like she was crazy.

"Mom and Dad would have been furious."

"Melissa, we aren't in high school anymore. They would have understood. And that doesn't explain why you didn't tell me…or Charlie. I wouldn't have told Bill in your situation either." They both laughed at the thought of the oldest Scully child's face if he heard about this.

"I thought if I told you then you'd tell Charlie, and one of you would end up accidently telling Mom. She'd be hurt that I didn't tell her myself, and she'd call me in tears. It would have been a mess. I thought it was better if no one knew."

"What would you have done for holidays? You couldn't just completely forget your family."

"I don't know, Dana! Obviously, it didn't work at all in the right way."

"Ok, I'm sorry," Dana soothed her sister, knowing her hormones were raging. "So, why did you pass out?" Dana decided to go into full doctor mode.

"I just over-exerted myself. I'll be fine."

"Do you know if they're gonna discharge you tonight?"

"Well, you're my doctor. Shouldn't you tell me that?" Melissa teased her sister.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be right back."

Scully walked out to the nurse's station. "Does Melissa Scully have a chart?"

"Here you go," one of the nurses handed one to Dana. Dana looked over the chart. 'I think she'll be fine, especially if she comes to stay with me for the night.'

Scully walked back into Melissa's room. "Ok, here's the deal, you stay at my house for the night, and you can leave the hospital tonight."

"That sounds awesome. I'd love to spend time with my little sister." Melissa smirked.

"Great, I'll get the discharge papers. But you're stuck here for…" she looked at her watch. "Oh, only another ten minutes. I guess I can take that long to get you discharged."

Dana got Melissa discharged, and they were on they're way out in less than twenty minutes. "So, where's your place at?" Melissa asked as her sister helped her into the car.

"Georgetown. It's not far." They drove in silence the rest of the way.

The girls walked down the hall to Dana's apartment. She unlocked the door, and turned to her sister. "Do you have anything you need me to pick up?"

"No, the woman I was visiting will bring it over later."

Dana nods and proceeds to open the door.

"Hey, I was starting to get worried that you'd ditched me for Mulder. And John wont even be here until way later." Melissa walks through the door while Monica talks to Dana as she hears the door open. She was sitting on the couch with a book, her reading glasses perched on her nose. "Oh, hi."

"Monica, you have yet to meet my older sister, Melissa. Melissa, this is my best friend in the whole word, Monica Reyes."

Monica stuck out her hand. "Hi, I've heard a lot about you."

Melissa accepted her hand, and shook it. "Sorry to say I have never heard about you. Dana and I don't keep in touch much."

At that moment, there was a knock at the door. "I got it," Dana said. Dana turned and opened the door. "Mulder," she said in surprise. The two other girls inside shared a look. "What are you doing here?"

He held up a bouquet of flowers. "I wanted to give these to you."

"They're beautiful, but why?" she gave him her signature skeptical look.

Mulder shrugged. "I saw them and they reminded me of your hair. I wanted to bring them over."

"Well, thanks. I really do like them." She put the flowers in between her upper arm and forearm. She leaned toward Mulder and gave him a one-armed hug.

He wrapped his arms around her waist. Mulder rested the side of his face against her head.

"Well, now that they're dropped off, I guess I should go."  
"I'd let you stay, but my sister just got here, and she needs my help with some things. I can call you later."

"Yeah, that's good. I'll be waiting." He said with a smile. He leaned down to give her a quick kiss. She gladly accepted it. They broke they're kiss, and Mulder let his arms fall from around her waist.

"I'll see you some other time then. Bye." He left the doorway of her apartment.

Dana turned around to see Monica and Melissa just looking at her. "What?" she asks.

"What was that?" Melissa asks.

"That was Mulder." "Her boyfriend."

Monica and Scully said at the same time.

"He's not my boyfriend. We've only been out once." Scully defended herself.

"Then, what the hell was that? You guys act like you're in love with each other." Melissa commented. Scully blushed.

"She right, Danes." Monica said. "You guys act way closer than first date."

"Look, you can call him my boyfriend if you want, but he isn't. Maybe he will be after a few dates maybe he won't, but not right now." With that, Dana stormed into her room.

"Talk about dramatic," Monica mumbled.

"You should have seen her when she was a teenager." Melissa laughed.

Dana sulked in her room for a while. She hated to be wrong. She did like Mulder, but she didn't think of him as her boyfriend. Not consciously at least. Eventually, Monica knocked on Dana's door. "Dana, either you let me come in or I will break down this door. I am not kidding. You know I will."

Dana mumbled something close to 'come in', so Monica did. "Danes, why are you so upset?"

"I don't know. I don't like you guys saying Mulder's my boyfriend. I've only been out with him once. So what if we really are attracted to each other."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know it actually upset you." Dana looked at her friend and smiled.

"Why are you so nice to me? Especially, after I was such a brat." Monica just smiled and wrapped one arm around her friend.

"I think it comes with the best friend thing." They both giggled. "By the way, I called John and told him I'd see him tomorrow. I figured we could have a girls' night. I could get to know Melissa, and you guys could catch up.

"Sounds great," Dana said.

It was late when Scully, Monica and Melissa separated for the night. Monica and Scully had taken a long time to make Melissa's bed, after a pillow fight and some dramatic falling onto the bed for no reason. Scully groaned as she fell on her bed. She reached over to her nightstand where she had dropped her phone earlier. She dialed Mulder's number.

"Mulder," he answered.

"Hey, Mulder, it's me."

"Hi Scully, How's it going?"

"I am exhausted. I just separated from the other girls for the rest of the night. Who knew reunions with your sister could be so exhausting?" Mulder got quiet on the other end. "Mulder are you still there?"

"Yeah," he said. Dana thought she heard his voice catch like he was crying.

"Are you alright?" Dana asked the concern evident in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Mulder mumbled trying to regain his composure.

"No, you aren't. Tell me what's wrong." Dana says in a soft yet commanding voice.

"You'll think I'm crazy," Mulder stated.

"Mulder…" Dana said trying to hide the hurt. "Do you really believe that?" Mulder didn't answer for a second.

"No, but I don't want to talk about it. I can hear how exhausted you sound. I'll talk to you some other time ok?"

"Alright," she conceded she was exhausted. "I did want to call and say goodnight though. So, goodnight."

"Night, Dana." With that, they each hung up. Although, Dana was still wondering what had upset him. She was determined to find out. Dana decided to put her thoughts to bed, and laid down to go to sleep.

While Dana was in her apartment falling asleep, Mulder sat on his couch thinking about his own sister being abducted by aliens when she was just eight. He thought about how he probably would never see her again, and about how much he missed her.

**Let me know what you guys think of it, and if I should post the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4! I am actually really proud of this chapter. Tell me if its any good. My sister wanted me to make a scene where Scully and John kissed or Monica and Mulder. I told her no way. For some reason she likes to make strange relationships. Whatever. Hope you enjoy this. **

Dana had decided to skip church that morning. She wouldn't be missed anyway. She stretched and decided it was time to get up. She didn't have to go anywhere until later, so she grabbed her robe and put it on over her pajamas. Dana trudged out of her bedroom. Monica and Melissa were already sitting at the kitchen table, although they were still in their pajamas too.

"Hey guys, why are you already up?"

"Baby," Melissa answered.

"Early riser," Monica answered at the same time as Melissa.

Dana walked over to the fridge, and got a cup of yogurt. "We need to go to the grocery store," Dana mumbled.

"What's that?" Monica asked looking up from her cereal.

"We need to go to get groceries, I said. I'm gonna eat this, then get dressed. Then, I'm going to get groceries. Are either of you coming?" Dana said as she sat down at the kitchen table.

Monica nodded. "Yeah, I'll come."

Dana looked at Melissa. "You coming?"

"No, not if you don't need me to. My feet ache pretty badly today." They sat in silence, each of them eating their breakfast.

When Dana finished her breakfast, she walked into her room. She dressed quickly. "Alright, Mon, let's go," she said as she walked out of her bedroom, hopping as she pulled one of her socks on. Monica stood and grabbed her purse.

"Off we go," Monica said.

When they got downstairs, to the parking garage, Scully got in the driver's seat. Monica climbed in the passenger's seat. They were halfway through their drive to the store when Monica yelled, "Hey!"

"Jesus!" Scully exclaimed as she jumped in her seat. "What is your problem?" Dana asked glaring at Monica.

Monica ignored her question. "I just had a brilliant idea!"

"And your plan was to scare the shit out of me, and make us crash?" Dana said still angry about the original outburst.

"Shut up and listen." Monica ordered before continuing. "We are going to have a Christmas party!"

"Monica, it's Christmas Eve. No one would come, and who would we invite anyways?" Dana said skeptically.

Monica ignored her skeptical friend and continued. "We'll have it tonight, and it's not gonna be a big party, just you, me, John, Melissa, and Mulder."

Scully nearly drove off the road. "Mulder? Monica, I bet he has plans."

"Come on, Dana," Monica whined. "I am dying to meet your boyfriend. You could invite your parents too, only if Melissa is ok with it though."

"Monica," Scully sighed. "I'll think about it. At the very least, you can invite John over for dinner. Melissa isn't going to agree to our parents coming. And you know that even if I invited Mulder, it wouldn't be much of a party."

"Shut up." Monica stated. She was thinking of a way that she could invite Mulder over even if Dana said no, which she probably would. Monica was silent the rest of the ride to the store; she almost had her entire plan figured out.

Scully realized when Monica remained silent, she was thinking of a way to meet Mulder. Scully knew she might as well invite him herself. "Ok, Mon, I'll invite him. You will if I don't anyways."

"Really?" Monica gave Scully a skeptical look. "Are you joking with me? Because I will invite him myself; you know I will."

"I know; that's why I'm inviting him." She said looking at Monica.

"There's something else," Monica said.

"What is it?"  
"We have to decorate."  
"Of course, it's not a party if you don't decorate." Dana stated and pulled into the store parking lot.

They walked into the store, and Monica grabbed a cart. "We're gonna need to make punch or something you know." Monica nodded. They went through the store getting stuff for the party, and stuff for the week. They argued about what to get the whole time. Eventually, deciding that Monica would decide what was used for Christmas and the party tonight, and Dana would decide things for the week, since she would be making dinner for herself, and probably her sister too.

They finished grocery shopping quickly, and moved on to party decorations. They hurried through so that they could go home and call everyone.

"Come on, Dana! Let's get started." Monica yelled while racing out of the car and up the apartment steps into the building.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Dana said walking like a normal person up the stairs. Dana saw Monica race into the elevator as Dana walked through the door. "Mon, you still have to wait for me to get in there!" Dana yelled across the lobby. Monica looked at Dana with puppy dog eyes, pleading with her to hurry. Dana sighed, and walked toward the elevator.

When the elevator doors opened, Monica couldn't get out of there fast enough. Dana rolled her eyes called, "Mon, you need the keys." Monica raced back and grabbed them before taking off for the door again. Scully followed. Monica struggled to get the door unlocked.

"Would you like some help?" Dana asked.

"No, I got an idea." Monica said. She was determined to get into the apartment by herself. Monica brought her fist up and pounded on the door. "MELISSA! LET US IN!" she screamed through the door.

"Really?" Dana said, and gave her a you're-an-idiot look.

Monica shrugged as the door opened, to a confused looking Melissa. "It worked didn't it?"

"What's going on? Did you guys forget keys?" Melissa looked confused at one then the other.

"No, Monica was having trouble with the keys, and then she wouldn't let me help her open the door. So, her brilliant idea was to pound on the door until you answered." Dana said, and walked past Melissa into the house. Monica shrugged and walked into the apartment too.

"I gotta go call John!" Monica exclaimed and ran into her bedroom, not bothering to drop the bags she was holding.

"Monica! Bring those grocery bags back in here!" Dana called down the hallway.

"Sorry," Monica said as she walked back with the bags. She set them on the floor in the kitchen, and took off down the hall again. Dana rolled her eyes, and proceeded to put the groceries away.

Meanwhile, Monica lay on her bed and grabbed her phone. She dialed John's number knowing he would answer when he saw it was her.

"John Doggett," he answered.

"Hey," Monica said, barely containing her excitement.

"Oh, hi, Mon, what's up?" he asked.

"I have something to invite you to; Dana and I are throwing a Christmas Eve party. It's really just a way for me to meet her boyfriend, but you have to come." Monica explained. She rolled onto her back.

"Sounds great, who else is coming? Cuz, ya know it's Christmas Eve and most people are not going to come. I will though cuz I love you."

"I love you, too, and we're only inviting Mulder as the other guest. Ooh and Dana's sister because she's staying here." Monica counted the people with her fingers.

"So, it's not really a party more of a small group of friends drinking and talking? I assume there will be drinking." She laughed when John mentioned drinking. Of course, there would be drinks it was Christmas Eve.

"Yes, and yes. I think it'll be fun though. Plus, I miss you."  
"Mon, I saw you yesterday morning. That's not that long ago."  
"Hey! I'm allowed to miss you! I don't see you very often; I live in New York!" Monica rolled back onto her stomach, and glared at John through the phone.

"Alright, honey, I'm sorry." She smiled when he called her 'honey'. She loved it when he did that. She heard Dana directing Melissa to give her something to hang-up on the archway.

"I have to go help Dana; I will see you at 6:00, promise?"

"I promise. I'll see you later then. Bye."  
"Bye, John."

Monica walked down the hall to the living room. She saw Dana standing on a stool taping streamers to the archway. "Hey, Dana, John said he's coming. Have you talked to _your _boyfriend yet?"

"I am busy putting up the decorations, and getting things ready for _your _party." Dana remarked without looking at her. Monica stuck her tongue out thinking Dana couldn't see her. "I saw that," Dana remarked.

"What? How?" Monica asked.

"Doesn't matter. Now get your ass up here and help me with the decorations." Dana said finally looking at Monica. Monica sighed, realizing her friend would never tell her how it was she always caught her.

They worked on decorations until it was about three in the afternoon. "Dana, go call Mulder! Right now!" Monica commanded her friend. Dana glared at her, but walked into her bedroom to get her phone nonetheless.

Dana grabbed her phone off her nightstand, dialed Mulder's number, and lay down in almost the exact Monica had acquired in her own room unknowingly.

"Mulder," she heard his voice answer.

"Hey, are you doing anything tonight?" Dana asked right away.

"No, why? You wanna hang out?" Mulder asked his voice carried the slightest hint of excitement.

"Actually, my friend wants to have a little Christmas celebration, and I wondered if you would like to come." Dana bit her lip, hoping he said he'd come.  
"Love to, what time?" Dana could barely contain the squeal of excitement that built inside her when he said he'd come.

"6:00, if that's ok for you." Dana just guessed with the time. Monica hadn't actually told her a certain time, but 6:00 was the time Monica always picked. It was like a second nature. It was when John got off work, if he was working and she wanted to do something.

"That sounds perfect. Can I know who else is coming?" she could hear a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Well, my sister is still here and Monica of course. Plus, Monica's boyfriend is coming too. I think that's it though. It's just small."

"It sounds perfect to me. I can't wait. Would you mind if I just talked to you later? I have to finish a few things before I come over." Disappointment practically seeped through the phone.  
"Yeah, Mulder. I'll see you later."

Dana walked back into the living room. Monica was making punch in the kitchen, trying to be really quiet because Melissa had gone to take a nap. "He says he's coming," Dana said to Monica.

"Yes," Monica said triumphantly. "I knew he would."

"Really? You just knew he would? You've never even met him." Dana looked at her skeptically.

"I practically met him when he brought you flowers and you had your little love scene in the door way. I knew he would, I had one of my feelings." Monica remarked sticking her tongue out.

"You had a feeling about Mulder? Like one of your supernatural feelings?" Dana asked actually interested. Monica looked at her friend and nodded.

"Yep, but nothing really interesting. Just that he really liked you, and was secretive." Monica shrugged. She went back to the punch, and Dana pulled a case of beer out of the fridge.

"Do I need to get this out, or are you putting alcohol in that?"

"There will be alcohol in this," Monica stated.

"You know, we have a lot of time before anyone shows up, and by 'anyone' I mean John and Mulder."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I need to shower. When I finish the punch, that's where I'm headed."

"I'll finish it; you go shower." Monica shrugged and left Dana to make the punch.

It wasn't ten minutes before Dana was done. 'I guess I'll watch some TV,' she thought. She sat on the couch and turned the TV on. She flipped through the channels. She settled on a random show. She wasn't really watching it.

A little while later, Dana heard a hair dryer turn on. She shut off the TV, and walked over to Monica's room. Dana knocked on the door. Monica turned the hair dryer off to talk to her.

"Hey, Mon, can I come in?"

"Sure, Danes." Monica answered. Dana walked in the room.

"Hey, I'm going to shower now."

"Have fun," Monica said and turned the hair dryer on again.

An hour or so later the girls were both ready for the party, with about thirty minutes before the guys showed up. They didn't really know what to do. Melissa was finishing up getting ready. Monica and Dana both wore jeans and t-shirts. Monica's was red, and Dana's was green.

Monica was so excited for the party. She was practically jumping up and down. "How much longer do you think John will be?" Monica asked for the fifth time in ten minutes.

"Well, if John knows you, and he does, he'll be here soon because he knows you can't wait." Dana said from the couch while Monica continued bouncing around the house. 'And if he knows me, he'll hurry because he knows if he doesn't I will kill her.'

"I want him to hurry!" she whined.

"You and me both, Mon," Dana mumbled.

Right after she said that, there was a knock at the door. "I got it!" Monica screamed. She ran to the door, and whipped it open. John stood there smiling.

"Hey," he said before walking in.  
"Thank God you're here. Come earlier next time. Maybe she won't ask me when you're coming every five minutes." Dana said while she rolled her eyes at Monica.

Monica crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her tongue out. "You get to see your boyfriend whenever you want. I see mine on holidays and that's it." Monica pouted.

John wrapped his arms around her waist. "Awe, is Dana being mean to you?" he teased her. She nodded and turned around in his arms. "Mmm-hmmm." She mumbled before kissing him.

When they pulled apart, Dana rolled her eyes at her friend. "You seem to make up for lost time when you're here." Monica glared at her.

Melissa walked into the living room. "Dana, did I hear the door?" she saw John. "Oh, guess I did." She walked up to John. "Hi, I'm Melissa, Dana's sister."

"John Doggett, Monica's boyfriend." He answered.

"Oh," Melissa said glancing at Monica, who blushed. "I heard quite a bit about you last night."

John looked at Monica with concern. She was still blushing. Luckily, at that moment, someone knocked at the door. "I got it," she mumbled stepping away from John. 'Saved by the door,' she thought.

She opened the door, and wasn't surprised at all to see Mulder standing there. "Hi, come on in." she said acting like it was her own house. Mulder walked awkwardly into the house. He wasn't quite sure how to act. Monica walked back into the living room as Dana walked out to greet Mulder. He saw Monica's red shirt and Dana's green one. "Well, aren't you two a matching set?" he teased her.

Dana looked down at her shirt and grinned. "That's the point, stupid," she joked with him. She walked up to him and grabbed his hand. "Come meet my sister," Dana said while pulling him into the living room. Melissa was having a conversation with John and Monica.

"Hey, Miss," Dana called as the pair walked up. "This is my boyfriend, Mulder." Mulder looked slightly surprised when she said 'boyfriend'; it was good to know she thought of him as her boyfriend as much as he thought of her as his girlfriend.

"Hi, Mulder. I'm Melissa." Melissa extended her hand.

Mulder took it in his free one. "Fox Mulder." He stated.

Melissa went back to her conversation with John and Monica. Dana walked Mulder over to the couch where they sat down. "You know, Scully, this isn't much of a party. There are only five of us."

"Shut up. This was really only a way for Monica to meet you as soon as possible. She's like my love life coordinator. If she doesn't like you, you're screwed."

"She seems like your second mother." Mulder commented. Scully laughed.

"Well, I've known her practically my whole life and she gives great advice." Scully said. "And you better be on your best behavior or you'll get in trouble." Scully teased him.

"Does that mean I can't do this?" with that he leaned over and kissed her.

When he pulled away, Scully said, "No, I say you're allowed to do that again."

Mulder laughed and kissed her again.

Monica excused herself from John, and walked over to the couch. She sat on the chair opposite it. "Hey, I'm Monica." She said when they looked at her.

"Mulder," he said to her.

Monica looked him up and down before replying. "I'm going to get some thing to drink. Want something?"

"I was actually having the same idea. Come on, Mon, let's get drinks." Dana said standing. She left Mulder sitting awkwardly by himself on the couch.

They walked into the kitchen. "Are you trying to scare him?" Dana asked laughing as they walked to the counter.

"Maybe a little. I can't help it," Monica laughed.

"Go tell your boyfriend and my sister to go sit in the living room. It's not good for Melissa to stand for so long."

"Ok, I'll be right back."

Monica walked over to the only to people in the room standing. "Hey, Dr. Scully says you guys have to continue your conversation sitting down. It isn't good for Melissa to stand for too long."

When Monica returned to the kitchen, Dana had everyone's drinks in cups. "Here, take yours and John's cups." Dana said when she saw Monica. Scully held hers and Mulder's in one hand and Melissa's in another. Melissa couldn't have alcohol. They all sat around drinking and laughing as they got even more drunk.

It was late when they all silently agreed that the party should be over. Melissa had retired to her room long ago. Monica glanced down at her watch. "Oh my God, it's almost 12:30. I'm going to bed. Night guys. I was nice to meet you Mulder." Monica walked off to her room.

"I think I'll join Mon. Night you two." John mumbled staring at Monica as she walked down the hall.

With that, Mulder and Scully were alone. "Well, I think I should be going. You look tired, Scully."

"Mulder, you are not driving home tonight." Scully told him simply.

"I was going to take a cab." Mulder muttered.

"No, you are staying here. I can make up the couch for you." Scully stood up, and wobbled slightly. She started walking to her room to get some sheets from her closet. She made it to her doorway before she fell on her butt.

Mulder heard a 'thump' down the hall. He was still sitting on the couch. He got up, and was surprisingly steady. He saw Scully sitting in her doorway. She was silently laughing. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"Ow," she whispered and continued laughing. Mulder held out his hand; she took it and let him pull her up.

Scully stopped laughing, and let him hold her. Mulder suddenly looked up at the top of the doorway. There was a sprig of mistletoe hanging there. Scully followed his gaze.

"Mistletoe," Scully mumbled as Mulder's lips came down onto hers.

"We need to find some sheets," Scully said as they continued kissing and they started walking backwards to her bed. When her knees hit the edge of the bed, she pushed Mulder away. "No," she stated firmly. Mulder looked at her serious face, and backed off. "We are not having sex tonight; not because I don't want to or because I'm not ready, but because I am still really drunk and you're drunk too." Scully clarified.

"I understand and respect that. Where are your sheets? I'll go back to the couch." Mulder moved to walk away from Scully.

"No," Scully said grabbing his arm. "Stay in here. Just because we aren't doing anything, doesn't mean you can't sleep in here with me." She pulled him over to the bed, and sat down. "Are you ok with that?"

Mulder nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Scully smiled, and laid on top of the blankets, still fully clothed. She pulled Mulder down with her. They laid on their sides, facing each other. "Uh, Scully?" Mulder asked her.

"Hmm?" Scully replied.

"Do you really want to sleep in your jeans?" Mulder laughed.

Scully looked down. "Um, no. I'll be right back." Scully got up, got a pair of sweatpants out, and walked into her bathroom to change.

She emerged a minute or two later. She walked to her bed and flopped down. Mulder looked at her for a while. "Is something wrong, Mulder?" she asked. He shook his head no. "I just think you are so beautiful." She kissed him lightly, and they fell asleep holding each other.

**I got an idea for Chapter 5. Let me know if I should write it. Please review; I love reviews!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry it took so long to update this. Christmas was crazy and I** **haven't had time to update.** **I also had some writer's block. So this chapter is probably as good as it would have gotten anyways. Enjoy.**

Melissa was the first to wake up on Christmas. She walked down the hall. Her bedroom was at the back of the house. She wondered what the other four did after she went to sleep last night. 'I could ask Dana. I always used to wake her up for Christmas anyways.' Melissa stopped in front of Dana's room. She peered inside. She practically screamed with surprise when she saw Mulder in there with his arms around her sister. 'Oh I have to tell Monica about this!' Melissa thought. Although Monica and Melissa had only known each other for a small amount of time, they hit it off right away and became instant friends.

Melissa left her sister's doorway to make her way to the kitchen. 'This baby is always hungry,' Melissa observed with a laugh. She was surprised to find that Monica was sitting at the kitchen table wearing John's dress shirt, and no pants.

"Nice look, Mon," Melissa laughed. Monica stuck her tongue out and continued munching on her breakfast. Melissa walked to the fridge and opened it. "You will never believe what I saw when I walked by Dana's room," Melissa said turning her head towards Monica.

"What?" Monica said with her mouth full.

"Mulder is lying in her bed with her." Melissa stated.

Monica's jaw dropped. "You're joking," Monica said with disbelief.

"Not at all."

"How could she not telling me she was sleeping with him? No, better question, how can she deny being his girlfriend if they're sleeping together? I know Dana; she doesn't just start sleeping with a guy she barely knows. I don't care how much 'chemistry' (Monica used air quotes with her fingers) they have," Monica declared.

"I didn't say they were sleeping together. I said he was lying in her bed. Go see for yourself." Melissa nodded her head towards her sister's bedroom.

Monica sent her a confused look. Melissa just pointed toward the hallway. Monica got up from the table and stalked toward Dana's room. She peered through the door. "Awe," Monica whispered. "They look so cute." Monica raced to her room and opened the door, careful to be quiet so as not to wake John. She grabbed her camera out of her bag. John stirred and Monica winced hoping like hell he wouldn't wake up. Monica snuck back out of her room and into the doorway of her best friend's. She took the picture and smiled triumphantly. She stalked back into the kitchen holding the camera up high.

"Look what I got," Monica held the camera out for Melissa to take a look.

"Nice," Melissa laughed. "She's either going to be glad to keep it as a fond memory, or she's going to kill you for taking it."

"I know, but either way I think it will be funny to see her face when she sees the picture." Melissa nodded in agreement.

John walked up behind Monica and hugged her from behind resting his cheek on the top of her head. "Hey, Merry Christmas," he said his voice still full of sleep in that sexy way that Monica loved.

"Hi, Merry Christmas to you too," she said, wrapping one of her arms over his on her waist. He let go of her and proceeded to raid Dana's cupboards for breakfast.

Meanwhile, Dana woke up just in time to see John walk by her bedroom door. He didn't even take a glance into her room. Dana lifted her head and felt her head start to throb. She remembered last night, and wasn't surprised at all to find that she had a pounding headache. 'Great idea, Dana. Get drunk Christmas Eve, so that you have a hangover when you go to your parents' house. Monica was always good with stuff like this, maybe she can help me.' Dana went to stand up to go talk to her about it, but found that she was having trouble moving.

She looked down at the arms wrapped around her. She didn't want to wake Mulder, but she had a more pressing issue. She had to pee, _really _bad. "Mulder," she whispered. He stirred. "Mulder, wake up," Dana whispered. He opened his eyes a bit, and mumbled something incoherent before going back to sleep. "Mulder, you have to let go of me," Dana whispered firmly. She started wiggling; her discomfort was becoming irritating. "Mulder," Dana stated in at a normal volume, hoping it would wake him. She didn't want to shout; her friends would come running to get her and that was not something she wanted to explain. 'Oh yeah, that'll go over well. It's ok guys; I'm just screaming because I have to pee so bad my bladder is about to explode and Mulder won't wake up. Mulder would never come back here.' Scully groaned. 'There has to be some way to wake him up.' She thought. Just then, an idea popped into her head.

She leaned up and started to kiss Mulder. She kissed anywhere and everywhere she could reach. His lips, his neck, his cheeks, his nose, etc. She thought she heard him make a noise when she kissed one particular stop on his neck. So, she kissed it again. Yep, she definitely heard a noise come out of his mouth. 'Well, good to know where that is,' she thought. "Mulder, are you awake yet?" Dana said aloud to him.

"Mmmm," he mumbled.

"Will you please let me go for a minute? I'll be right back," she coaxed his sleep-addled brain.

He loosened his grip on her and she stood. Mulder immediately missed her warmth, and began to wake up fully. Dana walked back in from the bathroom. She laid right back down in his arms. "Morning," she said feeling much better now that her bladder didn't want to explode.

"Morning, Scully," he said sleepily.

"Sleep well?" she asked.

"Like a baby, this is weird because I'm an insomniac." Mulder said. She smiled at him.  
"Well, babies don't usually sleep through the night. They usually wake up a few times before only sometimes falling back to sleep. So, I think it's perfectly normal for an insomniac to sleep like a baby."

Mulder frowned at her. "Fine, I slept really well. Is that better?" he said before sticking his tongue out at her.

"Much," she said laughing. He rolled his eyes at her.

"What about you? Did you sleep well?"

"Yep, you're really warm," she stated with a smile.

"Thank you, I think."

"Come on; let's go see who else is up." Scully pulled his hand in example.

"I don't want to," Mulder whined. "It's nice in here."

"Come on, it's Christmas. Maybe you even got a present." Scully said reminding him.

"Christmas has less appeal when you have a hangover." He gave her a look.

"My apartment is dark enough, and Monica probably knows some kind of weird hangover secret. Come on." She tugged his hand for emphasis.

"Fine, but I'm only getting up to get rid of this headache," he said.

Scully smiled, and stood. He stood up slowly, following her. She took his hand and they walked out into the living room. "Hey, guys, merry Christmas." Scully said.

"Merry Christmas!" they yelled.

"Ow," Mulder said. Scully gave him a sympathetic look.

"Mon, do you have any secrets about hangovers?"

Monica looked at her confused. "How do you have a hangover? We didn't drink that much. I feel fine."

"Yeah, well, you didn't drink nearly as much as Mulder or I, and I'm like half as big as you." Scully pointed out.

"Yeah, alright I'll be right back." She looked at Mulder. "How bad does your head hurt?"

"Oh, you know, yelling kind of hurts it. So, classic headache really, I'm a lot bigger than Scully." Mulder said.

Scully gave Mulder a glare. "You are such a baby. You acted like you were going to die when we were in bed." Scully teased him. Mulder just stood there; he couldn't think of a good come back.

"Okay, Dana come help get my 'cure'." Monica grabbed her arm and pulled her. Dana slapped at her hand. "You're violent today." Monica said as she moved her hand.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do this so I will hopefully feel better."

While the girls went to the kitchen to get Monica's 'cure', Mulder decided he should probably go. He really didn't need anything from Monica. He walked up behind the girls. "Hey, I think I'm going to leave. Thank you for inviting me last night." He leaned down and kissed Scully's cheek. Monica went to hand Mulder something. "That's ok I'm good. I don't need your 'cure'." Monica laughed.

"Mulder, my 'cure' consists of Aspirin, sunglasses, and a very strong cup of coffee. It's not very elaborate." She smiled and gave him a glass of water and Aspirin.

"Thanks," he said before he swallowed the Aspirin. He put his arm around Scully's shoulder and pulled her to him. "I got to go." He kissed her temple before letting her go. She smiled at him and watched as he went out the door.

"Hey, Mon," Scully said turning her head to look at Monica.

"Yeah?"

"Your 'cure' kind of sucks." Monica walked into the living room laughing.

It wasn't much later that Scully and Monica were sitting in front of her Christmas tree, passing out presents to John and Melissa, and putting presents into each other's piles. They spent the next few hours opening presents, laughing, and telling stories. When they had cleaned up the wrapping paper and told practically all their stories, Monica stood up and said she had an announcement.

"Well, we all know how I'm going back to New York tomorrow. However, I just couldn't stand only seeing you guys on holidays anymore. A few weeks before I came down here to see you guys, I submitted paperwork for a transfer to D.C. I got a call a few days ago while you were at work, Dana." Monica paused for dramatic effect. "I got the transfer!" Monica exclaimed.

Scully leapt up from the ground to give her friend a hug. "Oh my god! This is great!" John was on his feet too. "Why didn't you tell us when you got the call?"

"Well, I thought it would be more dramatic if I told you the day before I was supposed to leave to go back. I do still have to go to pack my things. I wasn't sure I was going to get the transfer, so I didn't pack anything. However, I have all the transfer paperwork done. I did it before I came just in case. It would be great if you two could come with me to help with my packing. Could you get out of work?" Monica looked hopefully from John to Dana.

Scully came out of her stunned trance and answered. "Yes, I can totally get out of work. Yes!" the excitement was obvious in Scully's voice. John couldn't even speak. He just nodded so Monica would know he would get out of work.

Monica looked at Melissa. "You're invited also Melissa; I just assumed you wouldn't want to come being as you are very pregnant."

"No thank you. I'd rather not go. I can take care of myself here. Thanks for the invitation though." Melissa said with a smile.

"Miss, you shouldn't stay here by yourself. I don't know how long I'll be gone, or how long you'll be alone for. You should tell mom and dad. They could look after you; not to mention they'd be thrilled to have another grandchild. Melissa, you can't keep it a secret forever." Dana looked at her sister seriously.

"Dana, I'll be fine. Mom and dad don't need to know right now. I'll tell them on my own in good time." Melissa looked pleadingly at her sister.

"Miss, you know I'm good at distracting people. You can talk to mom and dad, while I distract Bill, Tara, and Charlie. You know Mattie won't pay any attention. If after that you want me to take you back here, we can get in the car and I'll drive you right back here. Come on; what's the worst they could say?"

"Alright, but I swear if anything happens you are driving me right back here."

"Yay, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Dana jumped up and down thanking her sister over and over again.

She suddenly spun to look at Monica. "Ooh, Mon, you have to come with us to our parents you know they'll be thrilled to see you. I thought you might want to spend some more time with John before you had to go back, but since you're moving down here, you'll see him all the time. Please come! They would be so happy so see you!" Dana ranted trying to convince her best friend to come with her. She suddenly remembered John was standing right there. "John, you're invited too of course. My parents would love to see you too I'm sure."

"Sure, that sounds fun."

"Yeah, that's cool." They answered simultaneously.

"Woo," Dana yelled and fist pumped the air triumphantly. Everyone laughed. "We are leaving in…" Dana looked at the clock. "An hour and a half."

An hour and a half later, they piled into Dana's car along with the gifts she had gotten for her family. Melissa was in the passenger seat being as she could sit more comfortably there. Dana was driving since she knew the way perfectly. That left Monica and John stuck in the backseat. It was a little cramped, but they could live with it. John's long legs weren't going to fit behind Melissa at all. Therefore, he sat behind Dana, whose seat was moved up extremely far due to her short legs, and Monica sat in the middle seat so she was able to talk with the girls.

"Why do I feel like we should be singing something from the Wizard of Oz?" John questioned. They had been riding for half an hour and John was taking notice of some things.

"Ooh, I want to be Dorothy!" Scully yelled. Her hand shot up into the air hitting the ceiling. "Ouch!"

Monica ignored her. "What do you mean, John?"

"Well, Dana, up there, is Dorothy leading us to 'Oz', who is her parents. Melissa is the Cowardly Lion; she's afraid to tell her parents about her pregnancy. I mean no offense at all Melissa; I'm just observing. You're Glinda; you're just bubbly and happy about everything today. I'm Toto; I'm just along for the ride."

"Well I guess we better start singing, since we're almost there," Monica said. She looked at the girls and they nodded their heads. "Weeee're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!" they shrieked in union. John just shook his head and laughed.

"Its good to know your headache's gone, Dana." She just smiled in response.

Dana pulled up in her parents drive way. Bill and Tara's car and Charlie's car were already there. "Miss, let's just all go in together. It'll be easier that way." Melissa nodded slowly and proceeded to slowly open her door. She got out very carefully. She was nervous as hell. Monica and John were already out and Monica made her way around the car to help Melissa.

John went around to the trunk, and called "Dana, open the truck I'll grab your presents." The trunk suddenly popped. Dana looked at John and nodded her thanks. He knew she wanted to help her sister.

Dana took one of Melissa's arms and Monica took her other arm. They walked up the driveway to the house. Dana was the one to knock on the door. If she had been by herself she would have just opened the door right away, but she knew that would be awkward for Melissa.

The door opened and Dana could hear Melissa suck in a breath. Their mother's face appeared from behind the door. "Hi mom," Dana said quickly. "I brought Monica and John to celebrate with us. She has some really good news. I um…also brought someone else, as you can see." Dana looked at Melissa.

"Hi mom, it's been a long time. I missed you." Maggie just stared at the three women.

"Bill," she called as she came out of her trance slightly. Bill Scully Sr. walked up behind his wife. "Yes?" he said. Then, he noticed the three women standing on his porch. "What's going on?" he asked genuinely confused.

"Hi daddy, I came to celebrate Christmas with you of course." Dana said.

"And she brought a few others with her," Maggie added.

"Yep, I brought Monica and John. You remember Monica don't you, daddy? She used to come over all the time when we were in school. I always brought her to holidays before, but then she moved to New York and she couldn't come around as much. John is her boyfriend, and he has been for a long time. He came just because I thought you guys might like to see him again. He used to come around and hang out with us when we were in high school. You remember him, don't you?" Dana rambled in an effort to give her sister time to think of what she was going to say, and calm her maybe.

By this time, John had come up the driveway carrying Dana's bag with her presents in it. Monica released Melissa's arm, but stayed close to her side to give her comfort, and so she knew Monica wasn't about to abandon her. John stood behind the girls on the porch. He set the bag on the ground. Bill Scully Sr. instantly recognized the dark haired woman and the man. He nodded his hello to both of them. He then looked at the woman in the middle.

Dana saw his gaze drift to Melissa. "I also brought Melissa." Dana stated. Melissa looked at her father. "Hi dad, I've missed you guys. I just wasn't sure how to tell you about this. However, Dana convinced me that I needed to. She's right of course. I'm sorry I haven't. I meant to, but never found a good time. I guess there never is a good time—" Melissa was cut off when Dana gave her arm a hard squeeze. They had both seen the look on their father's face change.

**Chapter 6 is on the way. Let's hope I get rid of this stupid writer's block. Hopefully I will update this sooner than last time, but no promises. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6! I am very proud of this chapter! I need some suggestions for chapter 7. Review and let me know what you think. Chapter 7 has a beginning, but that's all it has. Please review!**

Dana was really worried about Melissa, and her parents' reaction. She had seen her father's face change from being calm to angry; it flickered with hurt in between. Bill Sr.'s face was how the kids had always known when they were little that they were in serious trouble. Dana bit her lip in anticipation to what her father was going to say.

"Melissa Scully! How dare you come here after so many years, and act as if nothing happened?! We've been worried sick about you! You never even called us!" Bill yelled at his oldest daughter. Maggie touched her husband's arm, and he immediately looked at her. Maggie gave him a look that told him he had said enough and the girls understood.

Melissa had tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what to say. How could I tell you that I was pregnant out of wedlock and not be completely disowned from the family!? I know how serious you are about the church and everything." Melissa crossed her arms across her chest, like she did when she was a child. Maggie looked at her oldest daughter, completely stunned.

Dana reached over and hugged her sister. She had always been a 'Daddy's Girl', but she was disappointed in her parents for treating her older sister this way. Dana glared at her father. Dana decided she had to say something for her sister. "Look, I know this is a really hard thing to spring on someone so suddenly, but either you accept what Miss did, or we're leaving, all four of us."

Maggie looked at her children. "I…I..." she stuttered, unsure what to say. "Melissa, I would never disown you. We were just so worried about you. It was such a shock to see you here tonight." Maggie stepped away from her husband and reached for Melissa's hand.

Melissa squeezed her mother's hand. "I know, Mom. I didn't mean you. I knew you wouldn't be happy about what happened, but I knew you would accept it and not take it out on the baby. I was worried about Dad." She looked at her father. "I'm sorry, Dad. You just…you don't usually except things like this. You ran a Navy ship. If someone did something wrong, you could punish him or her or fire him or her or something. I was worried you'd take it out on the baby." She suddenly had tears of her own in her eyes.

Bill stayed standing in the doorway, unmoving. He shook his head. His eyes showed that he was still angry. "I need more time to accept this. Right now, you can't be here. I'm sorry, Starbuck. I was really looking forward to spending some time with you." Bill walked back into the house.

Maggie looked shocked that her husband could so quickly dismiss their daughter. "Bill!" she yelled after him. "Bill! Come back out here. We need to discuss this as a family." He ignored her and walked into the living room.

Everyone stared shell-shocked, but none moved towards the open door. Maggie was the first to recover. She turned and faced everyone. "I have no idea how he could do that. I'm going to go talk to him. Would you all like to come in?" Maggie gestured inside.

No one said anything for a minute. John was the first to respond. "I don't know about anyone else, but I'd rather not. I can see a family fight coming on pretty fast and being as I am not part of this family, I'd like to stay out of it." John stood near the back of the porch still grasping the bag of gifts that Dana got for her family.

Dana looked at John for a minute obviously thinking. "Mom, as much as I hate to admit it, John's right. Dad isn't going to change his mind tonight. We can come back in a few days. I need to drive Melissa home." Dana walked forward and hugged her mother. "I promise we'll be back," she whispered in her ear. Maggie nodded. "I'll look forward to seeing you in a couple of days." She looked at Missy. "I'll talk to your father. He's just in shock."

John walked forward and handed Maggie the bag. "I assume you would still like your family to get the presents from you." He looked at Dana while he spoke. She nodded. "It was nice to see you again, Mrs. Scully," John added before stepping away from the front door. He stood on the top step waiting for the women to finish saying goodbye.

Melissa tentatively walked forward and gave her mother a loose hug. Maggie hugged her back. "I'd hug you tighter, but I don't want to squish the little guy," Maggie said with a laugh. Melissa laughed with her.

Monica waved goodbye from a few feet away, not having moved since she let go of Melissa's arm. "You're not getting away that easily. Come here," Maggie chided her. Monica laughed and hugged Maggie.

The four of them walked off to the car. They went to the seats they had originally occupied on the ride down not two hours ago. Maggie stood on the porch with her arms crossed, looking sadly off at her daughters and their friends as they left. Dana waved a final goodbye as she backed her way out of the driveway.

Everyone was quiet the entire ride back to Dana's house. When Dana pulled into the parking lot nearest her apartment, she was first out of the car to help Melissa out. Melissa's face was tearstained. Dana hadn't even realized that her sister had been crying. She felt like such a horrible sister. After getting Melissa out of the car, Dana used one arm to help her sister stand and with the other Dana motioned to John and Monica to get the stuff out of the trunk. They all had bags packed to stay overnight. Dana looked over her shoulder and mouthed 'please' to her friends. Monica nodded, and grabbed John's arm. She pulled him back to the trunk. Melissa was leaning heavily on Dana. Dana could practically feel the exhaustion radiating off Melissa. Dana helped her walk inside the building and to the elevator. John and Monica followed.

After Dana got her sister into her apartment, she helped her sit on the couch. It was getting really hard for Melissa to do much. She couldn't move very well to begin with because of her pregnancy, but now she could hardly move she felt so exhausted.

Monica and John dropped the bags inside the front door. Dana walked toward them. "Thank you…for everything. You definitely helped her." Dana said.

"Dana, it was no problem. I think of you as family. I think I should stay at John's tonight, though. I don't want you to think I don't want to be here because of Melissa, but I think she might feel better if it was just you and her. You know, you're someone who knows her and you'll be able to comfort her more if I'm not here." Monica explained to Dana. Dana simply nodded.

"I completely agree, Mon. I don't know if I can go to New York tomorrow either. It will completely depend on if Melissa feels better, or if I can convince her to come with us. I'll call you tomorrow and let you know what's going on." Dana said.

Monica picked up her and John's bag. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Go take care of Missy." She whispered the last part to Dana. Monica smiled and waved at Melissa, who was sitting on the couch across the room. Melissa gave Monica a small smile. Monica and John left quietly.

Dana closed the door softly behind them. She walked over to Melissa. "Hey, Missy, how are you holding up?"

Melissa didn't answer for a second. "I think I'm ok, Danes. I knew Dad was going to be upset. I guess I just didn't fully prepare myself for his reaction. I knew his reaction would be strong; he always did have a temper."

"Missy, no one can prepare themselves for that. You shouldn't have to prepare yourself for something like that. Besides, Dad will probably come around. Eventually, he will accept you and the baby."

Melissa gave her sister a skeptical look. "He's crazy Catholic and you know that. He might forgive it if it was you, but it's me. Dana, you know you were always Dad's favorite. I was the rebellious one. He's not going to forgive me, and we both just need to accept it."

"You can accept it. I won't. I'll talk to Dad, Melissa. You are still a part of this family. I'm not letting you give up this easily." Dana hugged her sister. "I think we should both go to bed. We can continue this conversation in the morning."

Melissa tried to get up, and failed. "Uh, Dana, can you help me up? Otherwise, I'm probably never going to get up." Dana laughed, and grabbed her sister's hand, and pulled her up. They each went to there bedrooms.

When Dana was ready for bed, she climbed under the covers. She grabbed her phone off the bedside table. She dialed Monica's cell number from memory. Monica answered on the first ring. "Dana?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"What happened with Missy? Is she ok? Did you talk about it, because I know you don't like to talk about…well, about anything to do with your feelings." Monica teased her.

"Shut up," Dana laughed. "Yeah, we talked. She thinks Dad will never forgive her. I am not going to let that happen."

"Dana, you know how stubborn your dad can be. It's going to take a lot of persuasion to change his mind at all."

"I know, Mon, but I can't let her be without her family, especially, if she's going to be with a baby all by herself. Of course, she'll have me, but I'm wondering if she hates me at the moment."

"Why would your sister hate you? You haven't done anything, except be kind to her since she got here."

"Well, she said that Dad would forgive me if I did something like this, but he'll never forgive her. I'm now wondering if she's mad at me for something that was completely out of my control."

"Dana, Melissa doesn't hate you. She wants your dad to feel the same way about her that he does about you. It may take a long time, but Melissa will conclude that it's not your fault and you just want to help her. It's just a small jealousy of the relationship you have with your dad. She'll be back to normal before long."

"Promise?"

Monica laughed. "I promise; you have absolutely nothing to worry about."

"Well, today was exhausting. I'm going to sleep. Goodnight, Mon. Thanks for the advice, or reassurance or whatever it was."

"You are very welcome. Goodnight, Dana."

Dana hung up the phone. She laid back on her pillows. She thought about what Monica said about Melissa. Mon was right. She was usually right. Dana laid there for about 10 more minutes. There was no way she was going to fall asleep anytime soon. "Ugh," she groaned aloud. "I have to talk to someone. I can't sleep."

Dana grabbed her phone off the bedside table. She looked through her contacts until she found 'Mulder'. She called him. It was the third ring when he answered. "Mulder," he said. His voice didn't have the slightest bit of sleepiness in it.

"Mulder, it's me."

"Hey, Scully, what's up? It's late." She loved that she could just say 'it's me' and Mulder knew instantly exactly who it was.

"I couldn't sleep, and wanted someone to talk to. Is that ok? Or are you busy?"

"I was working on an X-File, but I'm not actually getting anywhere with it. It's not even officially a case yet."  
"Oh, can you tell me what it was about?"

"I can only tell you if you promise me you won't tell anyone else. I'm not supposed to tell people about cases, but I'll make an exception for you."

"Okay thanks, I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Well, the case I was just researching was supposedly an abduction case. I think it's crap though. There's no actual evidence that this person was abducted at all."  
"Wait a second, Mulder, do you actually believe in that stuff?"  
"Well, yeah, I never told you about my sister, but she's the reason I believe." Mulder's voice caught in his throat.

"Mulder," she said softly, sitting up straighter in her bed and leaning back against the headboard. "What happened to your sister?"

"I was watching her while our parents were at the neighbors. We were playing a board game. She wanted to change the show I was watching and I wouldn't let her. All of a sudden, there was a bright light outside the house. I tried to get my dad's gun. Then, I was paralyzed. Samantha screamed for me to save her, but I couldn't move. I was 12; Samantha was 8."

"Oh my God, Mulder! That's horrible! Mulder, I'm so sorry."

"It's ok, Scully. She's the reason I found the X-Files. I use abduction stories to try finding her, to see if any other little girls have been abducted the same way."

"Mulder?"

"Yeah, Scully,"

"Is that why you were so upset when I called you after you met my sister that afternoon?"

Mulder was silent for a moment. "Yeah, but I don't want you to think it was your fault. I was just missing Samantha."

"Mulder, I'm the one that brought up the sister topic. I'm so—"

"Scully, I swear if you apologize one more time, I am going to hang up. You didn't know about Samantha."  
Scully sighed. "Fine, but here I am thinking about what I'm going to do about my sister and our parents, and you've been searching for your sister for years."  
"It isn't your fault you're worried about Melissa. I would be worried for her too. It doesn't make you selfish. It makes you a good sister."

"Sure, fine, whatever."

"Don't you 'sure, fine, whatever,' me, woman." Mulder laughed. He was trying to lighten the conversation after such a heavy topic.

"I'll 'sure, fine, whatever' you if I want to, G-Man." Scully laughed, leaving the heavy conversation behind.

"Don't mess with the F.B.I. I'll have to come over there and punish you."

"Is that a threat, Mulder?" Scully tried to sound serious, but Mulder could still hear the smile in her voice.

"Actually, Scully, it's a promise," Mulder teased her.

"Don't try to start something you can't finish." Scully teased back.

"Who says I can't finish whatever I start?" Mulder inquired.

"I do. Melissa had a hard time telling our mom and dad about her pregnancy. You can not come over."

"Fine, Scully, but you owe me," Mulder pouted.

"How do I owe you? I'm sure you'd do the same for your family members," Scully stated logically.

Mulder didn't say anything for a moment. He knew Scully was right, and he wanted to think of a good come back. He sighed. "You're right, Scully."  
"I know I am. I need to go to sleep. I'm helping Monica move from New York tomorrow."  
"Call me tomorrow when your plane lands. It'll be like when we met." Mulder smiled at the memory, though it wasn't that long ago.

"Ok, I will. I promise. Goodnight, Mulder. I'm hanging up now."  
"Night, Scully. Sleep well."

Scully hung up the phone and smiled. Mulder always seemed to make her smile. Her brain had finally decided to stop the constant thoughts that she had before she talked to Mulder. Scully fell asleep soon after hanging up the phone. Mulder had eased the load on her mind.

Dana was up early the next morning. She wanted to do something nice for Melissa. Dana wasn't usually one to cook, but she knew how to make waffles. She knew Melissa loved waffles.

It was about twenty minutes later; Dana carried a tray consisting of waffles, orange juice, and syrup. Dana slowly nudged the door of her sister's room open. "Missy," she called softly. "Are you up?" Melissa was sitting up in her bed reading a book.

"Hi, Dana, what's up?"

"I made breakfast. It's waffles."

"Dana, you don't have to try to make me feel better. I know Dad won't accept the baby and me, but I still have you and Mom. Monica is really helpful too…thanks for the waffles though." She didn't want to see ungrateful, but Dana was smothering her.  
"Speaking of Monica, I want you to come with us to New York. You shouldn't be here all by yourself. Especially since I don't know how long we're going to be at Monica's. Please come with us. It'll be fun."  
"Dana, I don't wanna come. I can't help. I'll just be in the way. I'll go stay at my friend's house that I came to D.C. originally to visit. I'm sure she won't mind me staying there a couple of days. I didn't even really get to hang out with her. She'll take good care of me; and I promise I'll call." Melissa explained. She felt like she was in high school again and was trying to justify something to her mother.

Dana gave her the famous 'Scully look'. "Melissa, do you really not want to come? Or are you just trying to avoid me?"

Melissa looked at her sister confused. "Why would I avoid you? Not everything is about you, Dana. I just feel like flying in not a good thing for me to do right now. The baby would probably go into fetal distress. I wouldn't say I'm emotionally unstable, but I'm pretty damn close. Last night really shook me up; if we had any turbulence at all on the plane I may freak out. Dana, you know this is true. I mean, you're a doctor." Melissa rationalized.

Dana stayed quiet for a few minutes. "Damn it! Melissa, you're right. Well, shit, I mean I just want to keep an eye on you. I know what happened last night had a really big impact on you. I want to be there for you, but I promised Monica I'd help her pack. You were there; you saw how excited she was. She'd understand of course, but if you are okay with it, I'd like to go to New York. I know I sound like a bitch, and I should stay here with you to help you." Dana took a breath and was about to continue.

"Dana, shut up. I don't need you to take care of me. I accepted it will take Dad time to digest my pregnancy. He may never accept it, but I already love this baby more than anything. If I have to choose between Dad and my baby, I will pick this baby. Go to New York; be with your friends. I'll stay here and visit my friends. Don't worry about me, Dana. I'll be fine while you're gone. I appreciate your concern, but you need to back off some, Dana." Dana just nodded, stood from her sister's bed, and walked out of the room.

She went to her own room. She grabbed her phone off the bedside table. She dialed Monica's cell phone number from memory. Monica didn't answer; Dana wasn't really surprised it was only about seven in the morning. She left a message. "Hey, Mon, I just wanted to let you know that Melissa isn't coming to New York with us, and, yes, I am still coming. She doesn't want me to stay here with her. She wants to go to her friend's house. Which is absolutely her choice, but…I don't know, Monica. I think I just need to get away from her for a while. This used to happen when we were younger. We just sort of got sick of each other, and I have been hovering over her a lot lately. Maybe that's all it is. Okay, sorry, I'm rambling. I'll talk to you later and find out when you booked our flight. Call me back."

Dana hung up the phone and just sat on her bed for a few minutes wondering what she did to make her sister want her to be away from her. Dana finally gave up on trying to figure it out. She went to take a shower. She stuck her head out the bedroom door and called down the hallway to let Melissa know what she was doing.

Dana walked into her bathroom, and turned the taps on for the shower. She stripped out of her pajamas. Dana stood in the shower and let the warm water run down her back. She let her mind drift. Her mind couldn't help but go to Mulder. She wondered how he dealt with his sister being kidnapped. Dana's skeptical mind couldn't agree with Mulder about his sister being abducted by aliens. However, she hadn't been there when it happened. She wasn't about to argue the point with Mulder. Dana decided she needed to talk to Mulder. Besides, she was starting to miss Mulder, although she had seen him not long ago.

Dana turned the water off, and stepped out of the shower. She toweled off. Her phone started to go off in the next room. Dana wrapped her towel around her self, and walked to grab her phone. She had thrown it down on her bed when she went to take her shower. Using one hand to hold up her towel, she used the other one to move her blankets around the area of her bed where the ringing constantly came from. "Gotcha," she said as she grabbed her phone and quickly hit the answer button without looking at the caller id. "Hello?" she inquired.

"Hey, Scully," said a familiar voice.

"Hi, Mulder, I was just thinking about you." Scully said smiling. She liked it when Mulder randomly called her.

"Well, I was just calling to see if you'd like to go to lunch with me today. Would you?"

"I would love to, Mulder. When are you going to pick me up? Or am I driving to your house since you have poor driving skills?" Scully held in a laugh.

"Shut up," Mulder laughed. "I can pick you up at 11:30 if that's okay with you."  
"That sounds great." Scully stood from her bed. She held the phone firmly between her shoulder and her ear. She searched through her dresser for some underwear.

"Hey, Scully?" Mulder asked.

"Yes, Mulder," she said.

"Were you thinking about the skills I have that you haven't experienced? Is that why you brought up my poor car driving skills?" Mulder teased her. She sounded happy, but underneath that happiness, he could sense there was something wrong. He wanted to cheer her up, and thought this might be a good way to do. He wanted to get her mind on something else.

Scully laughed. "Sorry, Mulder, no that isn't why I was thinking about you. Good guess though. No, actually Mulder, I was thinking about what you told me about your sister. My sister and I are having a lot of issues. I just wondered how you dealt with what happened to your sister."  
"Oh, are you alright, Scully?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Mulder, I have to go get dressed. You called me just as I was getting out of the shower." Scully knew Mulder would make a joke out of this, but she needed to get dressed. She was starting to get really cold standing there in just a towel.

"Ha, Scully, I knew you were thinking about me in an inappropriate way. And in the shower? Scully, I don't know what I'm gonna do with you." Mulder couldn't stop laughing.

"Shut up, Mulder. I have a lot on my mind, and I told you I was thinking about how you dealt with what happened to your sister. It wasn't inappropriate." Scully couldn't help, but smile into the phone.

"Uh-huh, yeah right Scully. Okay, well, I'll pick you up at 11:30 for an early lunch. See ya later, Scully."

"Bye, Mulder." She said in a sing-song voice.

Scully dressed quickly, and blow-dried her hair. It looked good enough. It was slightly wavy, but not a crazy curly mess. She dressed casually for her date. It wasn't anything fancy. She was glad she had time to just hang out by herself before her date with Mulder. She hadn't had much free time lately, but was glad for the few hours she'd have to herself until Mulder got here. She could hear the TV in the living room. 'Melissa must be watching something,' Dana thought. Dana decided it would be a good idea if she avoided Melissa for a little while. She went around her room picking stuff up. She made her bed. She usually kept her house spotless, so there wasn't much in her room to clean.

Dana stood in the center of her room and surveyed it. She sighed. She wasn't ready to go out there and face her sister. She grabbed a medical journal she'd been to busy to read. She plopped down on her bed with the medical journal in hand. She glanced at the clock before she started to read. 8:22. She had plenty of time to sit there and read.

Before Dana knew it, the clock read 11:25. Dana hadn't even realized that much time had passed. She thought she should go tell her sister she was leaving, and head for the lobby. Dana trudged out to the living room. "Hey, Missy, I'm going with Mulder on a date. I'll be back later okay?" Dana grabbed her purse off the counter in the kitchen. "I'm going to meet him in the lobby now." Dana said as she reached for the doorknob.

"Yeah, Danes, go have fun with Mulder." Melissa smiled at her sister and waved 'bye' to her.

Dana smiled and waved back at her sister. She wondered what had happened to put Melissa in such a good mood. It didn't matter right now. She was going to lunch with Mulder, and she was going to have a good time. Almost unconsciously, Dana made her way to the lobby. When she stepped out of the elevator into the lobby, she heard someone call her name. She snapped out of her reverie at the sound. Her head swung around toward the voice. She saw Mulder walking across the lobby to her. Dana met him halfway.

"Hey," she said cheerfully.

"Hi, Scully, let's get going," Mulder said grabbing one of Dana's hands.

"Where are we going, Mulder?" she inquired. Dana just realized they hadn't actually decided where to go for lunch.

"I have an idea. No need to worry." Mulder said assuredly. Scully shrugged. It didn't matter where they went. If she was honest with herself, she was just happy to get out of the house.

Mulder was parked right outside. He opened the door for Scully. "Here you go, my lady," he joked.

Scully smiled and teased, "Who said chivalry was dead?"

"Ha ha, Scully, very funny," Mulder said as he got in.

They rode in a comfortable silence for a while. Pretty soon they were starting to go farther out of D.C. Scully was starting to wonder where they were going. "Hey, Mulder?" she inquired.

"Yes, Scully?" he questioned her back.

"Where are we going? We passed most places to eat a while back. Are you kidnapping me?" she said with fake concern.

"Yes, Scully, I am kidnapping you." Mulder said in a serious tone, but when Scully looked at him, she could see he was smiling mockingly.

"Seriously, Mulder, where are we going?" Scully started to whine.

"Relax, it's a surprise. I promise you'll like it," he said knowingly. Scully crossed her arms and remained silent for the rest of the ride.

Suddenly, Mulder pulled in to a small, barely noticeable parking area. Scully had never seen this before. They had to be somewhere just outside D.C. Where were they?

"Mulder…where are we? I have never seen this place. I've never even heard of it. Wait a second…does it even have a name?" Scully climbed out of the car, and looked around in a circle. She turned back to face Mulder with her arms crossed over her chest. Mulder went around the back of the car, and opened the trunk. He grabbed something out of it, and held it up.

Scully gasped, "A picnic? Mulder, you were seriously starting to scare me!"

Mulder broke his serious look, and doubled over in laughter. "You should have seen your face, Scully! It was priceless!"

Scully threw her hands down and yelled through clenched teeth, "It's not funny!"

Mulder continued laughing. Scully walked over to Mulder and punched him in the shoulder. "Ow!" he yelped as a sharp pain radiated through his shoulder. "How can such a tiny person cause so much pain?"

Scully glared at him. "I can pack a punch, and you deserved it! That was a mean joke!"

He set down the picnic basket as he realized she was really angry. "Awe, Scully, I'm sorry. I was only kidding."

She stood with her back to him. He walked up behind her and wound his arms around her waist. He pulled Scully back to him. Dana kept her arms firmly crossed across her chest glaring out to the forest in front of her. She refused to look at him, or acknowledge that he was saying anything to her. Mulder leaned his cheek against Scully's head. "Scully…" he tried to coax her to turn and look at him. Dana only tightened her arms across her chest. "Dana," Mulder whispered softly in her ear. The sound of her first name coming out of his mouth softened her heart a little. She dropped her arms to her sides, and lifted her head up slightly, just enough to let Mulder know she was listening.

"I'm sorry, Dana. I didn't mean to upset you. I was only teasing," Mulder explained to her in a soft voice that sounded very sorrowful.

When Scully didn't answer, Mulder used his height to his advantage. He leaned against her, and looked over her shoulder to see the front of her face. She didn't look mad, just sort of thoughtful. Mulder was concerned. 'She hates me. I shouldn't have done that to her. She has a right to be pissed off at me.' Mulder thought. He was determined to get her to look at him, to talk to him, and tell him what she was thinking.

"Da—" Before Mulder could even get his name out, Scully whipped around in his arms to face him so fast he almost couldn't keep a hold on her. She held his face in both her hands. She pulled his face down to her level, and kissed him. She kissed him aggressively and possessively. He responded almost immediately to her touch. One of his hands nestled in the back of her hair and his other one rested on the small of her back, pulling her closer.

They stayed there standing on what was basically the edge of the road, kissing until both their lips were sore and swollen. They both pulled back almost simultaneously. Mulder smiled at her. "So, Scully, am I forgiven?" Mulder asked. Scully just rolled her eyes in answer, and took Mulder's hand. "Come on, Mulder, let's go have our picnic." Scully stood on her tiptoes and kissed Mulder's cheek before grabbing the forgotten picnic basket. Mulder went over to the still open trunk and got a blanket out. "Okay, Scully, let's go." He said before slamming the trunk shut and taking her hand again.

They spent the next hour or so just having fun goofing off. They laid side-by-side on the blanket: Scully on her side; Mulder on his back. Scully's head rested on Mulder's bicep, with her arm draped loosely across his chest.

"Hey, Mulder?" Scully said, looking up at him.

"Yeah, Scully," he said tilting his head ever so slightly to look at her.

"How did you find this spot?"

"My family used to bring me and my sister out here. We came a few times after Sam was abducted, but it wasn't the same without having her here with us, and it did bring up sad memories about her abduction. I haven't been out here in years."

"So you don't usually bring your girlfriends out here?" Scully said smiling.

"Uh, ha, no. I've never brought any other women here. None of my ex-girlfriends ever knew about Samantha."

"Really? I'm the first girl you've ever told?" Mulder just nodded. "Awe, that's really sweet." They laid there in silence for a bit.

Suddenly, Scully sat up. "Mulder, what time is it? I have to go to New York tonight!"

Mulder lazily got up, and checked his cell phone. "It's 1:56. Why?"

"I don't know when the plane is leaving! Monica was supposed to call me, but I left my purse in your car. Can I see your phone to call her?"

"Sure, Scully." Mulder handed her his phone.

Dana quickly dialed the number. Monica picked up on the fourth ring. "Hello?" she inquired.

"Hey, Mon, it's Dana. I left my phone in Mulder's car, and just realized that I don't know what time our flight to New York is. So, what time?" Dana justified.

"Our flight leaves at 5. John and I will pick you up around four. We don't want to have any trouble boarding our flight. Is that okay?"

"Yep, that's great. Thanks, Mon, see ya later."

Dana ended the call, and handed the phone back to Mulder. "Well, Mulder, this has been great, but I think it's time I get home. I haven't packed for New York yet. Drive me home?" Mulder nodded, and proceeded to pick up their picnic. Mulder put the things back into the picnic basket, while Scully folded up the blanket they had been sitting on.

The ride back was silent. They didn't need to talk to understand what the other was thinking. Their hands were clasped over the center console. Mulder pulled up in front of her apartment. "Want me to walk you in, Scully?" Mulder asked. He didn't really think he needed to he just wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

"I think I can make it on my own, Mulder, but thank you for the offer." Scully leaned across the console where their hands were still clasped, and kissed Mulder goodbye. "Call you later, okay, Mulder?"

"Yeah, Scully, see ya." Mulder gave her hand one last squeeze before letting her get out of the car.

John and Monica arrived precisely at four. Monica was always a stickler for being on time. They knocked on Dana's door. She opened the door quickly. "Hey, guys, I am ready. Are we leaving now?"

"Yup," John answered. "Let's go."

The ride to the airport and the plane ride were unimpressive. The three friends chatted, laughed, and told funny stories the whole ride there. Dana fell asleep on the plane ride; for some reason she suddenly felt exhausted. It was possible that the events from the few previous nights had finally caught up with her. New York was still as pretty as the last time Dana had been there, and they got to Monica's apartment without any trouble. They ordered pizza, and watched a movie before Dana decided it was time for her to go to bed. She flopped down on her bed, and was asleep almost instantly.


	7. Chapter 7

**I am so sorry! I feel terrible! I meant to post this like several weeks ago, but I lost my flashdrive a while ago and just found it. I know some people can write a chapter in a night and I can't. I made this one longer if that's any constellation. I really would love some ideas for the next chapter. It would definitely help me get the next chapter out faster. **

Dana finished packing the DVDs into the large cardboard box in front of her. She sighed and shoved the box out of the way. It had been 4 days since John and Dana had gone to New York to help Monica pack to move to D.C. Dana and John had done most of the packing as Monica had errands to run before she was ready to move. Dana was incredibly worried about her sister. When she arrived at the airport when she first got to New York, she had a voicemail from Melissa. Dana tried to call her back, but she didn't answer, and Dana hadn't heard anything from her since the original call. That was why, at 11:23 p.m. on December 30th, Dana sat in sweatpants and a t-shirt on Monica's living room floor packing up the last of her DVDs.

Dana usually had absolutely no trouble sleeping a way from home, but this trip was different. Whenever Dana tried to go to sleep, she took much longer than usual. She thought it was probably just stress about Melissa and her parents, and all that. When she did fall asleep, it was only for an hour or two; then an unknown nightmare would wake her. She could never remember the nightmare. It was obvious she did though. She woke in a cold sweat, there were wet tear tracks down her cheeks, and her sheets were all twisted around her waist and legs. The nightmares didn't scare Dana. She couldn't be scared if she didn't know what they were even about. However, waking up every hour or so was exhausting. It was much easier just to stay awake and keep packing.

Dana stood up from the floor and stretched her back. Her back ached from leaning over so long to pack the DVDs. She looked around. The living room was almost completely bare, although the sofa was still in the middle of the living room, and Dana couldn't pack the silverware at the moment for fear of causing too much noise and waking Monica and John.

She hadn't told them about the nightmares. She felt there was no reason to bother them with it. She could sort this out on her own. The nightmares weren't even that big of a deal. Dana wasn't one to be frightened easily, and a few little nightmares weren't going to be what scared her. Besides, it wasn't even affecting her that much; she was just a little sleepier than usual. She felt sort of like she did after a long shift at the hospital.

There was very little left to pack, and they had planned to leave tomorrow sometime. Even though it was silly, Dana really wanted to get home to spend New Year's with Mulder. Monica told her even if they weren't finished, she should go home. Her best friend knew how desperately she wanted to be with Mulder on New Year's. It scared her sometimes how well her best friend knew her, but she was very grateful for Monica's understanding.

Dana smiled as she remembered the first time the two of them had met. They had been so little. Sometimes she wished she could go back and relive her childhood; she missed being carefree and happy all the time. Being an adult was too hard sometimes.

Dana spun around again before collapsing on the couch. She laid on the back on the couch, her hands behind her head. Monica's couch was so comfortable. Dana didn't feel like going to her bedroom, she could sleep on the couch just as well as the decently soft bed in the guest room, but Dana was starting to miss sleeping in her own bed. Her bed was comfortably worn in the right spots, although, Dana usually didn't have trouble sleeping somewhere that wasn't her bed. However, nothing about this trip was as usual. She pulled a blanket off the back of the couch onto herself, and wrapped it around herself tightly. It took a while, but she finally drifted off to sleep around 12:30.

A clatter in the kitchen woke Dana up. Sometime in the night, she must have pulled the blanket over her head. She sat up slightly, and the blanket came to rest across her stomach. She could see light coming through the curtain less windows. There was another clatter coming from the kitchen. Dana stood up to see what it was.

Dana came to a halt in the doorway to the kitchen, surprised not to see anyone in there. She was sure Monica or John had been out there. She had definitely heard something. It woke her up. Or something had. Dana looked around confused for a minute. Just as she was about to go back into the living room, Monica sprang out from where she was crouching by the edge of the far counter.

"Rawr!" she yelled.

Dana's eyes got wide with surprise as she screamed. It took her mind a minute to realize it was Monica, who was now doubled over laughing hysterically. "It's not funny!" Dana yelled at her friend. Monica just kept laughing.

Dana glared at her friend for a second before walking over to Monica who was still doubled over. Dana nudged Monica with her hands, and Monica tumbled to the floor. Monica let out a little yelp when she hit the floor, and sat a minute before she got all her giggles under control. "I'm, haha, I'm sorry." She giggled for another few minutes. "I just couldn't resist." She laughed a second longer before saying, "It wasn't really that funny. I don't know why I'm laughing so hard." Monica just continued to laugh. Dana rolled her eyes. It was uncommon for Monica to be this insane, but not unheard of.

A sleepy looking John stumbled into the kitchen rubbing his eyes. "What the hell's goin' on in here?" He looked at Monica, who was sitting on the floor, still laughing like a maniac. "Dana, what did you do to her?" He asked amused.

"How do I get blamed for this? She's the one that scared me!" Dana tried to remain serious, but her resolve was slowly ebbing away. At the mention of what Monica did, she burst into a new fit of giggles. Dana just rolled her eyes again. John looked from Monica to Dana, and back.

"You sure you didn't give her anything?" he asked, only slightly serious.

"Hey, don't blame me. She's your girlfriend. If anyone broke her, it was you." Dana laughed. "Come on, John. Have you never seen her this way? You've known her almost as long as I have."

"'Course I have. Doesn't make it any less weird every time it happens. What happened to get her this way anyways?"

"I heard a dish clatter, and it woke me up. So, I came into the kitchen to see if you or Monica was packing. When I walked in, I didn't see her. Then, she jumped out from behind the edge of the counter, and she hasn't stopped laughing since."

Dana and John just stood there and watched Monica for a few minutes. John snapped his fingers suddenly. "I got an idea," he said. Dana looked at him confused, and then nodded at him. John ambled over to Monica. She squatted down next to her and gave her arm a small, but firm, pinch.

"Ouch," Monica yelped. However, her giggles stopped. "John, that really hurt," she whined.

"Hey, at least your giggles stopped. I'm sorry that I hurt you, Mon." He kissed her cheek, and she shrugged.

Dana clapped her hands together. "Well, now that that's over, how about we finish packing because Monica promised me we could go home tonight. So, let's get started."

Monica and John nodded in agreement. Both knowing full well that Dana just wanted to get home to see Mulder.

The trio spent the next hour and a half finishing packing up what was left in the kitchen. Then, they worked on stacking all the boxes near Monica's front door. The movers were supposed to be coming to get the boxes today. The three of them just had to wait for them to show up before they could leave New York. After all the boxes were piled by the door, Monica made a quick sweep of the apartment before they did anything else.

"Now, all we have to do is wait for the movers," Monica said.

"And I have to shower," Dana stated.

"Go for it," Monica laughed.

In the mean time, Monica called the airport for tickets to D.C. Dana showered and changed just in time. The movers showed up. There were two movers there to help them. The five of them moved the boxes down to the mover's van. It seemed like record time to Scully. They were at the airport in no time. Before they had to board their flight, Scully called Mulder.

"Mulder," he answered.

"Mulder, it's me. What are you doing tonight?"

"Hey, Scully, um, probably nothing. Maybe go to my friend's place for a beer to celebrate. Why?"

"We're boarding our plane soon to come back to D.C. I was wondering if you wanted to spend New Year's Eve with Monica, John, and I. I think it would be fun."

"Yeah, Scully, that sounds like fun. Where are we celebrating at?"

"My house. Monica has yet to find a house in D.C. that she likes."

"I thought she and John were together. Why doesn't she just move in with him?"

"Hell if I know. I figured they would, but she's looking for her own apartment, so whatever."

"Ok, well, when are you getting home? I'll pick you up from the airport."

"I'll let you know when we land. We have to board our flight in a few minutes. Oh, they're letting us on now. Talk to you later, Mulder. Bye." Scully collected her stuff before getting up to board the plane, while holding her cell phone between her ear and her shoulder.

"Ok, bye Scully. See you later." Mulder stated. He was excited to see Scully later.

Not surprisingly, Scully was asleep right after the plane took off. She didn't realize how tired she was after not sleeping well for days at Monica's place. It was a sound sleep, that she didn't usually have, but with her worries pushed to the back of her mind, it was a much-needed sound sleep. Her mind was on Mulder, and she drifted deeper into her subconscious with thoughts of him.

"Awe, look how peaceful she looks when she's sleeping. I could tell something was worrying her the whole time we were away from D.C. I didn't want to bug her about it though." Monica stated to John, her brow furrowing slightly as she explained.

John put his arm around her shoulder and moved her closer to him. "If she wanted to talk to you about it, she would have. You have nothing to worry about." He gave her a reassuring smile, and she leaned into him.

"I just feel like if I had asked she would have been more willing to talk about it. I'm her best friend, you know?"

"If you're so worried about it, why not ask her when she wakes up?" John suggested.

Monica shook her head. "It won't make any difference if I ask now. I suppose she'll tell me if she wants me to know."

"That's what I said in the first place." John laughed. Monica smiled sheepishly at him, and he rolled his eyes.

Dana woke not too long before the plane was supposed to land. She glanced at Monica and John, who were sitting in the seats beside hers. They were talking in hushed voices so as, she presumed, not to wake her. She slowly stretched out her muscles. They weren't exactly cramped being as she was a petite woman, but it felt nice to stretch them. She put her arms over her head and arched her back, that's when Monica noticed she was awake.

"Hey, Danes, nice timing. We're going to be landing soon."

"That is awesome. I am excited to get home." Dana smiled as she closed her eyes thinking, again, of Mulder. "Oh," she gasped, remembering something suddenly, "Are you guys going to be staying at my house tonight? I don't mind; I'm just curious. Mulder is coming over for New Year's and he'll probably stay over too."

Monica gave Dana a knowing smirk. Dana shook her head and laughed, "Not like that. It'll be way too late for him to drive home." Monica nodded her head in fake belief. Dana gave her a glare and kicked at her shin lightly. Monica stuck her tongue out when she moved her leg out of Dana's range.

John noticed this never ending battle between the two best friends, and cut in. "Okay, ladies, I think we need to focus. I don't know about you guys, but I will be glad to be getting off this plane. I don't want to have to stay on for you to get your stuff together."

"John, we don't have anything. Dana slept the whole time, and I talked to you. We have nothing out." Monica looked at Dana and they both stuck their tongues stuck out at John. He rolled his eyes. "Well, if I let you two keep your battle up, one of you would end up getting hurt. Why can't you act like adults?" John said exasperatedly.

"Being an adult is no fun," Dana said in a child like manner.

"But," Monica put in, "if you're a child, you can't drink or have sex. So, my guess would be that over all you like being an adult, since drinking and sex are two of your favorite things."

Dana didn't say anything for a second. "Shut up, Monica. You make it sound like I'm an alcoholic and sex addict. I'm not!"

"Oh, I didn't think of it like that. I just meant, who doesn't like alcohol and sex sometimes." Monica shrugged.

Dana didn't reply. She was slightly insulted, even if she and Monica had misunderstood each other. It didn't particularly matter to her. She was just excited to get home and see Mulder and Melissa.

The time lapsed quickly. Before Dana realized it, they were getting off the plane. She pulled her cell out of her purse and dialed Mulder's number. She walked over to a quiet corner to talk. He picked up almost immediately, as if he had been waiting for her next call right after they finished her first one.

"Scully?" He answered, obviously trying to not to sound too hopeful.

She laughed softly enough so he wouldn't hear. "Yeah, Mulder, it's me. I wanted to let you know that our plane just landed. I mean literally just landed. I just stepped off the plane."

"Do you want me to come get you? I can be there in less than an hour."  
"Mulder, you don't have to come get us. John's car is still here in long term parking."

"Oh," Mulder sighed dejectedly.

Scully realized he had really wanted to come get her. She spoke quickly, "But, uh, I'm sure Monica and John would like some alone time. We've all been stuck together for a few days. I think it'd be great if you could come get me."

"Ok, I'll see you in a few. Bye Scully."  
"Bye, Mulder."

Monica spoke to Dana when she walked over to them. "Who was that?"  
"Mulder," Dana stated. "He asked me to call him when I got off the plane before. He wants to come pick me up. I told him John's car was still here, and he sounded very disappointed. I guess he's dying to see me as much as I'm dying to see him. So, I told him you guys could use some alone time. He's coming to get me in about an hour."

"Ah, so you're not riding with us?" Monica questioned.

"Nope, you can let yourselves in. You know where the spare key is."

"Well, John was actually planning on taking me back to his house. He wants to drop off his stuff, and…" she thought for a minute. "Basically, freshen up, but a guy version of that."

"Oh, that's fine. Then, I'll probably be home whenever you get there. Come over anytime if you're going to spend New Year's with us."

Monica nodded. "Let's get our luggage then. Do you want us to wait with you for Mulder?" Dana shrugged her shoulders, and grabbed her friend's arm. She pulled her slightly toward the luggage claim.

She looked around for John. Where had he gone? "Where's John?" Dana questioned.

"He went to get the car. Now come on! Let's get our stuff." Monica tugged her friend's arm to get her to move.

"Alright, alright." Dana laughed.

Within the next half hour, Monica and Dana had their stuff and John's. They sat on a bench near the parking area. "Are you sure you don't want us to wait with you until Mulder gets here? We don't mind." Monica said answering for John even though he wasn't there.

"Mon, I'll be fine. It won't be longer than thirty minutes from now. You can go have some time to be with John. I'm sure he'd like time without me around."  
"You make it sound like he hates you. We love spending time with you."

"I know, but we've been stuck together for a couple days and I'm sure we'd all like a break from each other."

Monica nodded after a second. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I might see you later. I haven't really talked to John about what we're doing tonight." She glanced out the window into the parking lot. "Oh! There's John. See you later." Monica gave her friend a quick hug, and then walked outside.

Dana sat on the bench by herself. She didn't notice the man across the room. He was leaning against a wall, watching her. He had been watching her since she got off her plane. He had heard her talking on her phone about getting a different ride, but he didn't think her friends would leave her. He didn't expect to find her alone so soon. He was new in town and was looking for new victims. She would be perfect. He knew he'd have to find out more information on her before he made his move. However, he couldn't let an opportunity like this pass up.

He pushed himself up from his position against the wall. He walked with confidence. Dana didn't see him until he was right in front of her. "Hello, the name's Nolan Clark. I couldn't help but notice you sitting all alone over here."

Dana looked at the man curiously, not offering any information about herself. She didn't feel the same as she did when she first met Mulder. She had a bad feeling about this man; something about him wasn't quite right. She looked him up and down questioningly. He was tall and good looking, but his eyes had a distant look in them, as if he wasn't looking at you, but through you. His blonde hair had the same disheveled look Mulder's did, but it was shorter. He was tan despite the fact that it was only January. And Dana had no interest to start a conversation with him.

Nolan was not affected one bit when Dana didn't answer. He saw her look him up and down. He knew he was attractive, and he was going to use it to his advantage. He smirked at her and continued what he was saying, "Anyways, I was just curious if you needed a ride anywhere. I'd hate to leave a pretty girl like you all alone here."

Dana raised an eyebrow at him. She had never met a man who was so straightforward within only a few sentences of a conversation. "Thanks for the concern, but I have a ride coming." At that moment, the glass door opened. Dana usually paid no mind to such things, but she would look towards any noise if it put a pause in the conversation with this man. To Dana's relief, Mulder was walking through the door. "And that would be him now." Dana stood from her seat, and waved at Mulder. He noticed the man standing beside her immediately and noticed the sense of urgency in her eyes. He sped up his walk to meet her.

As soon as he reached her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. The man Mulder didn't know glared at him with such contempt, you'd think Scully was his girlfriend. When Scully broke the kiss, she stood on her tiptoes to whisper in Mulder's ear. "Get me out of here and fast." Mulder chuckled and kissed the side of her head. Scully had a huge grin on her face when she came back down on her flat feet.

Scully's bag was still beside the bench; unfortunately, Nolan was standing in front of it. Nolan, of course, knew exactly where he was standing. Scully nodded her head toward her bag. Mulder went to reach for her bag but Nolan intercepted his hand. He shook Mulder's hand. "Nolan Clark. Pleased to meet you. I was just sharing a conversation with your…" Nolan glanced at Scully's hand, seeing a lack of a ring, he continued, "girlfriend."

Mulder glanced at Scully, but shook the man's hand anyways. "Fox Mulder. Pleasure is all mine." After Mulder shook Nolan's hand, he slipped his into Scully's. "I hate to be short, but Dana and I should be going." At the sound of her name, Scully squeezed Mulder's hand. He gave her a questioning look, but she didn't reply. She simply reached for her bag. "Yeah, we should really be going." Mulder wondered what was wrong with Scully. He hadn't seen her be short with people like this before. He took her bag in his hand and nodded a goodbye to Nolan.

Scully practically stopped the blood flow to Mulder's hand she was clutching it so hard. Mulder led Scully to the car, and guided her into the passenger seat. She sat with her hands in her lap and her head looking down. Mulder tossed her bag into the backseat and climbed into the passenger seat. He guided her head up with a few of his fingers. "Scully, what's wrong?" She just pulled her head to the right to stare out the windshield. She saw Nolan looking at her through a window in the airport. She shivered. Mulder saw her shiver and followed her line of sight. He noticed Nolan. Mulder decided it would be a good time to go now. He started the car and drove out of there faster than he should have, but he wanted to get Scully away from that guy.

As they got farther and farther away from the airport, Mulder saw Scully visibly start to relax and unclench all her muscles. "Scully, what the hell happened in there? What did that guy say to you?"

Scully shook her head. "I don't know what made me so worked up. I had a really bad feeling about that guy when he came over to talk to me. He told me his name and offered me a ride. I'm not sure what caused my sudden anxiety." She took a deep breath and was about to continue, but she got a sudden nauseous feeling. "Mulder," she stated. He looked at her with concern when he noticed her suddenly pale complexion. "Pull over. Now." Mulder pulled over on the highway quickly.

As soon as the car stopped, Scully threw open her door, and vomited what she had last had at Monica's New York apartment. Mulder leaned across the car and tried to hold her hair back, but she slapped his hands away. He settled for rubbing her back while she continued to vomit the contents of her stomach. When she seemed to have nothing left, she leaned back in the car and rested her head on the back of her seat. Mulder smoothed the hair away from her face, and stroked her cheek with one finger. "Are you okay now?" he asked. Scully nodded weakly and closed her door. She gestured for Mulder to start driving again.

"Lean your seat back and rest. We can talk later." Mulder ordered her. Scully did as he said.

The rest of the ride was silent. Scully was asleep by the time Mulder pulled up in front of her apartment building. Mulder reached over her and grabbed her bag; he kindly nudged her shoulder to try to wake her from slumber. He leaned toward her. "Dana," he whispered softly in her ear before kissing it.

"Hmmm?" she mumbled.

"We're at your apartment, sweetheart."

"Oh," she mumbled. She began to slowly put her seat back up; by the time she had gotten it up, Mulder was at her door opening it for her. When she stood, she felt a little wobbly. She leaned against the car for support. Mulder wrapped his arm around her waist, but she shook her head to indicate she would be fine in a moment.

They walked in together, and although Scully didn't want Mulder to think he had to help her, she let him rest his hand on the small of her back. Scully reached into the front pocket of her bag for her keys. She unlocked her door, and called, "Missy, are you here?" She got no reply, so she shrugged and turned to Mulder. "I'm going to the restroom. I'll be right back. You can find something to drink in the kitchen if you want." She took her bag from him and headed down the hall to her bedroom.

Mulder wandered into the kitchen. He opened the fridge door and glanced in, not really looking for anything, just wasting time until Scully came back. When he closed the fridge door, he noticed a note hanging on it. He figured it was something like a to-do-list. As he began to read it, he discovered that was not what it was. "Dana, you might want to come see this," Mulder bellowed.

Scully stumbled out of the hallway still zipping up her jeans. "What, Mulder?" she asked exasperatedly. He simply pointed to something hanging on the fridge. Scully knew she wasn't the one that had hung it there. It must be from Melissa. Mulder pulled it down from the fridge, and handed it to her. She discovered it was a note.

_Dear Danes, _

_ I'm sorry to leave like this, especially after you've been so hospitable, but I had to leave. I love you to bits, but you can be a bit overbearing sometimes. I didn't want to tell you before because I knew you would be hurt. I got a call while you were gone; it was from the father of my baby. Dana…I was really in love with him, and I want to start a family with him. I lied; I didn't break up with him before I knew I was pregnant. I told him and then he broke up with me. I know I shouldn't trust him, but I can't help it. He says he wants to have this baby with me. He had a condition though. I have to live where he wants to, and he doesn't want to be a part of our family. I won't see you very often, but know that I love you, and I'll send you pictures of the baby when it's born. I know I'm horrible for leaving, especially when you weren't even here to say goodbye to. You're a great sister. Don't worry about me. I'll be well taken care of. You know as well as I do that I can take care of myself. Goodbye, Dana. I may not see you again for a while. I love you._

_Missy. _

Dana read the letter with a blank expression. When she was finished with it, she set it on the kitchen counter. Her brain was throwing thoughts through her head at incredible speeds. Mulder looked at her with concern in his eyes. He knew she loved her sister very much, and she had lost her in a similar way that Mulder lost Samantha. "Dana?" Mulder asked her. Dana just turned and started walking toward her couch. She sat down heavily on the couch. Mulder followed and sat beside her. She sat with her head cocked to one side and stared straight ahead. Mulder couldn't stand to see her like this. "Dana, what are you thinking?" he asked softly.

"I'm thinking I must be a horrible sister to drive Melissa away for a second time. I think she must love her baby daddy more than she loves me, which is horrible because I'm her sister. I'm thinking of all the stuff I said to her, and how I was so worried about her. She must have thought I didn't trust her to take care of herself and the baby, but I didn't mean it like that at all. I was just trying to help," Dana's voice started to crack. "I'm thinking how I made her come to our parents' house and how upset she was. I was always so bossy. I didn't mean to drive her away. I didn't—" A sob ripped through her and tears started to flow down Dana's cheeks.

Mulder put his arms around her, and held her close to him. "Shhh, it's gonna be okay." He tried to soother her. He pulled her into his lap. She held onto him and continued to cry. Dana was never a girl who cried easily. She kept her feelings to herself, and handled her problems alone, but this was too big for her, and she was so grateful to Mulder for being here to comfort her. In this moment, she loved Mulder. She loved him with all she was worth. She lifted her tear-stained face to look at him. She saw in his face so much love for her. She gave him a watery smile. Mulder smiled at her and kissed her forehead. She could fit so perfectly on Mulder's lap. Her head fit perfectly in the crook in his neck. He could feel her tears sliding down his neck. "Scully, I can't believe I need to tell you this, but you are not a bad sister. You could never be a bad sister. Melissa says you were a great sister. Didn't you tell me that she was flaky? You didn't expect her to stay here with you forever did you?" Mulder could feel Scully tense in his arms, but she didn't answer. "Hmm? Did you, sweetheart?" Scully shook her head no. "I didn't think so. You know she loves you, and maybe you can visit her sometime. Everything is going to be okay." Scully nodded. Mulder held her closer to him. Scully soon drifted off to sleep.

Scully was awakened by the sound of the phone. She was still in Mulder's arms, but they were laying on the couch now. "I'll get it. Go back to sleep." Mulder stated and kissed her temple. He slipped out from behind her to get the phone. Scully was suddenly very cold without Mulder's heat. She was more awake than she was before. She could hear Mulder on the phone.

"Hello?"

"Mulder. She found a note from Melissa."

"Yeah, she's gone."  
"I believe she's still sleeping, or at least she was when the phone rang."  
"I could ask her. Hold on." Mulder walked out to the living room to see Scully awake on the couch. He covered the receiver with his hand. "It's Monica. She wants to know if you want her to come over."

Scully shook her head. "I'll explain things to her later. I don't want anyone else here right now."

Mulder nodded and replied to Monica. "She said she'll explain to you later. She's tired."

"Yes, I promise to talk good care of her."

"Yeah, Happy New Year's to you too."

Mulder hung up the phone. Scully still was lying on the couch. "Was I selfish to want just you here with me? Do you think it upset Monica?" Scully asked. She had a feeling of anxiety again. That letter from Melissa was a pretty big blow to her self-esteem.

"No, honey, I think she understands completely. She knows how much you loved Melissa, and how hard it was the last time she left." He crawled back in behind her, and put his arms around her.

"Mmm, you're so warm." She said.

Mulder chuckled. "Am I?"

Scully turned in his arms, so she was facing him. "Yes." She stated simply. "Mulder?"

"Yes, Scully?"

"Why have you all of a sudden taken to calling me 'sweetheart' and 'honey'?" Scully looked up at him and asked.

"Oh, I don't know. I didn't really notice. Does it bother you? I can stop." Mulder blushed slightly.

"No," Scully stated. She burrowed her head deeper into Mulder's chest. "I like it." Her voice was slightly muffled by Mulder's shirt. It wasn't long before they had both drifted off to sleep.

Mulder and Scully were both awakened by shouts that came from outside Scully's apartment. They were both quite startled, but it wasn't long before Mulder figured out what was happening. He glanced at his watch. "Happy New Year, Scully," he stated. He leaned back into the couch, his body not on alert anymore.

"Oh, yeah," Scully mumbled. She had completely forgotten about New Year's. She noticed Mulder starting to go back to sleep. "Hey!" she yelled and hit him lightly in the chest.

"What?" he looked at her with alarm.

"You're supposed to kiss someone at midnight on New Year's," she stated. She blinked her eyes innocently at him, and he laughed. He leaned toward her and kissed her. He held her against him, and she deepened the kiss. They broke apart. It left both of them breathless. "That's more like it." Scully smiled.

"Suddenly, I'm not tired anymore," Mulder said. He rolled onto his back, pulling Scully on top of him. She laid her head over his heart; it was a steady, if only slightly faster than normal, comforting beat. "Dana?" Mulder asked.

"Mmm?" she mumbled, lifting her head slightly. She knew he wanted to talk about what had happened earlier. He was concerned for her, but she didn't want to talk right now.

"Do you want to talk? I now what it's like to lose a sister. I know what you're going through." A few tears sprang to Mulder's eyes as he thought about Samantha. However, Dana just shook her head. "Do you just want to lay here?" he questioned. This time she nodded. "Okay," he muttered, and kissed the top of her head.

In the morning, Dana had work. She really didn't want to go; she wanted to stay with Mulder. Mulder was up early, and when she woke up to find herself alone on her living room couch, she remembered Mulder saying he had to leave to go to work. She looked at the clock; it had only been about forty-five minutes since he left, but she wasn't going back to sleep. Dana got up to take a shower.

She went to the bathroom that was across the hall from her bedroom. She turned the taps on, and stripped off her clothes. She tossed them in the hamper across the room. Dana stood under the showerhead, letting the water slide down her body. As she stood there, she began to think. 'Maybe going back to work is a good idea. It will take my mind off Melissa. I'll focus on my patients. I bet they'll be happy to see me,' Dana thought. Suddenly, she had a new sense of determination to go to work.

The morning flew by. It seemed like only minutes since she woke up and wished she could stay home. She sat in her car, and took a deep breath. She would have to be strong when she went in; she would have to act as if nothing was wrong. She let the breath out, and pulled her keys out of the ignition. 'Here goes nothing,' she thought.

When she got to the locker room, she stopped. She knew her colleagues would be in there. 'Just keep your thoughts on your patients,' her brain thought. She pushed the door in and was surprised that no one was there. She shrugged the thought away and proceeded to change into scrubs quickly. She was in a hurry to get to the pediatric ward. Dana wondered how Christian was doing. Christian Fearon was Scully's favorite patient. He was a young boy with a rare brain disease. When he came to the hospital, he was immediately put under Scully's care because of her pediatric neurology knowledge and expertise. She planned on doing everything in her power to save this little boy.

As Scully walked down the hall, she didn't see very many doctors that she usually saw. 'Where is everyone?' she wondered. Scully went to the nurses' station to see if she could find information about what was going on. The walk there was short, and she was there in no time. The nurses were bustling around putting charts away, checking schedules, etc. "Olivia, what's going on?" Scully asked one of the nurses she was familiar with.

"Major trauma. Many of the doctors are in the ER working. When did you get back? Weren't you supposed to have today off?"

"We got back yesterday. Do you think I should go down and help?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure there are some kids down there that could use you. I believe…" Olivia looked at her computer. "Yeah, Dr. Fontaine is the PEDs doctor on-call right now."

"She can handle it, but would you let them know I'm available if they need me. I'm going to see Christian."  
"Okay, I will, Dr. Scully," Olivia said before going back to what she was doing.

Scully walked the familiar hallway that she walked every time she was at the hospital. When she got to room 1013, she opened the door silently. Not surprisingly, Christian was sitting up in his bed. He was usually awake when she came in. "Hey, Christian. How are you this morning?" she asked him kindly.

He looked at her surprised; he obviously didn't hear her come in. "Doctor Scully!" he exclaimed; he was very fond of her. "I thought you weren't coming back until tomorrow. That's what the other doctors said." He didn't speak the words normally. He spoke as if he had difficulty forming the words, but Scully understood him just fine. He motioned vigorously for her to come sit with him.

"I think we were all a little confused as to when I was supposed to come back," Scully said as she walked over to Christian. She picked up his chart before she went to sit by him. "You seem to be doing okay," Scully observed as she thumbed through his chart, still standing at the end of his bed.

Christian nodded his head. "I feel good today, Dr. Scully."

Scully put his chart down again, and walked over to the side of the bed. "That's good," she said as she ruffled his hair. He gave her a huge smile.

She was reading a book with Christian when her pager went off. She held the page, and looked at the pager. 'You are needed in Trauma 1,' it read. When she looked back at Christian, he was looking at her with his bright eyes. She smiled sadly at him and said, "I have to go now. I'll try to get time to say hi later, okay?"

"Okay, Dr. Scully," he said. He took the book from her and continued to read his book.

Once outside Christian's room, Scully quickly walked down to the trauma room. She could hear a lot of yelling coming from inside. As she pushed the door open, she saw a flailing child on the table and a woman who was obviously the child's mother beside her, trying not to become hysterical. The little girl had an obvious head wound. "What's going on?" Scully demanded. The other doctors looked at her surprised. They obviously hadn't heard her come in. 'That seems to be happening a lot today,' Scully thought. She raised her eyebrow at them, and one of the doctors stated quickly, "Three-year-old girl with head trauma." Scully resisted the urge to toll her eyes. No kidding there was head trauma; Scully could see that for herself. "We haven't heard exactly what happened. We've been more worried about the injuries than what caused them," another doctor stated. Scully nodded and got right to work on the little girl.

As the day went on, Scully didn't get anymore free time to go say 'hi' to Christian. She had been working almost nonstop since she was paged down to Trauma 1 early that morning. She hadn't heard what had caused so many accidents, and frankly, she didn't care. She was so tired; she just wanted to go home. Thankfully, she wasn't on call that night. She slowly scrubbed out after her last surgery and trudged to the locker room to change. It wasn't very late, but her body was tired and protested every step she took.

After getting into her car, she leaned her head back against the headrest and sighed. Dana needed to call Monica. 'She's going to be worried about me. I now she is,' Dana thought. She pulled out her phone and dialed Monica's number. She started the car as the phone rang.

"Hello?" Monica answered.

"Hey." Dana replied as she pulled out of the parking lot of the hospital.

"Oh my God! Dana, how are you? I talked to Mulder last night. He said things weren't good. Are you okay?" Monica said all at once. It exploded from her mouth before her brain even thought about it.

Dana laughed at her friend's eagerness to know what was going on. "I'm doing alright. It helped to go to work today and take my mind off of it." She said barely thinking about it as she navigated traffic. 'She doesn't sound too bad,' Monica thought. "Mon? You there?"

"Yeah, sorry. So, you went to work? Anything interesting happen while you were gone?" Monica asked, trying to change the subject.

"I don't know. I didn't get a chance to ask. There was a major trauma. I didn't even get to learn what happened. I did get to see Christian for a bit this morning, so that was fun. I'm sure, had I asked him, he would have told me everything he heard the nurses saying. He's so funny," Dana said with a smile. It was at this time that her mind started to wander. She wanted so badly to have children.

Monica could hear her smile over the phone. "You really love that little boy, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. I've sort of adopted him. His parents are with him a lot of the time, but they do still have to work during the day. He was really excited to see me today," Scully laughed.

"That's great. Oh, I have to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye." Dana was almost home anyways. As soon as she got home, she made something to eat. She hadn't eaten much between surgeries.

It was around 8 o'clock when Dana laid down on her bed to read. She didn't have anything else to do tonight, although she knew she should call Mulder and thank him for looking after her last night. It wasn't five minutes after she opened her book that she was asleep. The physical exertion today and the emotional exertion yesterday had tired her out. She slept until she had to get up for work.

**Let's go from Monica's POV for a while. Yay.**

When Monica hung up the phone, she turned around to face one of the most hated things ever. Unpacking. She and John had decided before it would be better if the didn't live together, but they spent a lot of yesterday discussing it. They both realized it was silly for her to rent an apartment when they knew they _could_ live together. It would be a change for both of them, but they agreed it was a change that needed to happen.

"Ugh," she groaned, "Why do I have so much crap?" she asked rhetorically.

She didn't hear John com in. "Because you like makin' things difficult." He laughed when she jumped.

"Jesus, John, you scared me," she said.

"Sorry, Babe," he chuckled and gave her a quick kiss.

"I just got off the phone with Dana." Monica stated absently.

John's serious side emerged immediately. "How's she doin'"

Monica shrugged. "Okay. Mulder's presence seems to be really helping. I can't help but think he can understand what she's going thorough better than I can," Monica confessed.

John shook his head. "I'm sure that's not true. He was the one that found the note, that's all. Everything will be back to normal in no time," he stated before clapping his hands together. "Now, let's get this unpacking done." Monica groaned, but complied anyway. She wasn't sure if she believed everything would go back to normal soon.

The next morning, Monica was supposed to start her job at the Washington D.C. F.B.I. division. She was up extra early; she wanted to make a good impression. She looked in the mirror and smoothed her skirt. It wasn't what she'd normally wear, usually opting for a pantsuit instead, but it looked nice. She left a note for John in the kitchen, grabbed her purse, and was out the door.

On the drive there, she tried to calm her nerves. 'You've done this before, and you were absolutely fine. Why are you so nervous?' she asked herself. The truth was she was afraid they'd transfer her somewhere else, although that was unlikely. She pulled into the parking lot and sighed. "Here we go," she said out loud. She got out of her car and walked to the elevator that was visible to her. it didn't take her long to figure out where she was supposed to be going. She was in the director of the F.B.I.'s office in no time.

She walked into the first part of the office, where the secretary was. Monica stated who she was and the secretary asked her to sit in one of the chairs. Monica had been sitting there for close to 10 minutes before someone came out, and the secretary waved at her to go in. She walked in.

The director looked up from his desk, and acknowledged her presence. "Agent Reyes, please sit down." Monica sat in one of the seats across from his desk. "Agent Reyes, we feel the best place to assign you would be the X-Files. This is because of your expertise in satanic cults and such. Have you ever heard of it?"

"No, Sir," Monica replied.

"Well, I'll have someone take you there." He stated. He stood up from his seat and opened the door for her in a gentlemanly gesture. "Would you have Agent Colton escort Agent Reyes to the X-Files department?" he asked his secretary. She smirked and nodded.

As Monica and Colton stood in the elevator, she could tell he was checking her out. He had no idea that he had no shot. "So, what are the X-Files?" Monica inquired. She saw his eyes snap up to hers. She raised her eyebrows in question.

"I'd be happy to tell you about it over dinner." He replied with a confident grin, and crossed his arms over his chest.

Monica replied calmly, "Sorry, I'm in a committed relationship."

Before he could think on a reply, the elevator dinged. Colton just started walking towards one of the only doors down here. He didn't even knock before he swung it open. "Mulder!" He practically yelled it.

Monica stopped short when she heard the name. 'Is this Dana's Mulder? How many Mulder's can possibly work at the F.B.I., stupid?' she thought to herself. She rearranged her face, straightened her shoulders, and followed Colton into the office. She saw Colton standing in the center of the room, glaring at Mulder, who was bent over a filing cabinet rifling through it.

Colton turned to her and spoke, "He's ignoring me. You'll have to introduce yourself." He stormed out after that, not even waiting for her response. Monica held in a laugh. "Hey, Mulder," she said with a smirk on her face.

He stood straight up at the sound of her voice. He turned slowly. "Oh, hey, Monica. I literally thought I was crazy for a second," he laughed.

She smiled. "Why were you ignoring Colton?" she asked.

"He has a habit of making fun of me and I don't appreciate it. Ignoring him is the best way for me to keep from punching him in the face. Plus, it pisses him off." Mulder laughed and leaned against the filing cabinet. "How'd you get stuck down here with me anyway?"

"I was told that it had to do with my extensive knowledge of satanic cults, although we have never found any actual evidence of any cults." Monica shrugged.

He nods his understanding. "Well, we don't have a case at the moment, and, for once in my life, I have all my paperwork done. So, there's really nothing for us to do. I'm sure Scully would like it if we got to know each other platonically." Mulder suggested.

Monica shrugged. "I'm fine with that."

They spent the next few hours learning things about each other. However, Mulder would not talk about his past much. Whenever, Monica asked anything about it, he would give a vague answer and change the subject. This worried Monica. How could it not? Her best friend was in a relationship with this man; suppose he was hiding something from her, something that could cause Dana harm. Monica could never live with herself if she had suspicions and never said anything, and then something happened to Dana.

All the time she had been thinking this, she didn't notice Mulder had answered the phone and was now talking on it. He hung up the phone and looked at her.

"That was our assistant director's office. He wants to talk to us about a new case. Looks like your first day here just got a little more interesting." With that, he stood and grabbed his suit jacket off the back of his chair. Monica followed him out of the office, not knowing at all where they were going.

They arrived at the office quickly. Mulder had been there many times, although Monica had no knowledge of this…yet. Unlike Monica, Mulder didn't sit in the chairs there; he just went straight into the next room. Monica followed hesitantly. "Hello, Sir," Mulder said before sitting in one of the chairs across the from the A.D.'s desk. He looked at Monica and patted the arm of the chair beside his. When she sat down, Monica noticed the name plate on the desk said A.D. Skinner.

"Hello, Agents. Agent Reyes, it's nice to meet you." Skinner said. He held his hand out for her to shake. She shook it with a quiet 'likewise.' Skinner picked up a case file and tossed it at Mulder. "There's been a series of killings along the East Coast. We have reason to believe he's in D.C. now. Local PD asked us to join in on the investigation. I figured you'll appreciate this case, Mulder."

Mulder looked up from the file, excitement filling his eyes like a kid in a candy store. "There shows no ways that anyone could have gotten in? You don't think it's Tooms, do you?"

Skinner shook his head, "No, there are ways someone could get in; they just aren't…conventional. I suppose you could say."

Monica tried to keep the confused look off her face. She had no idea who 'Tooms' was. The two men bickered a few more minutes about the X-File.

Skinner held up his hand for Mulder to stop talking. "I think it's time for you, Agents, to get acquainted with the case."

Monica stood, but Mulder stayed put and finished making a point about the X-File. Skinner didn't pay him any attention. "Mulder, get out of my office. Now." Skinner noticed Mulder made no move to leave, while his partner just stood there awkwardly. She'd learn soon enough how to deal with Mulder. "I will report you, if you don't leave right now, Mulder." Skinner said without even looking up from his desk.

Mulder frowned, but he stood. He knew Skinner meant what he said. He walked out of the office, and Monica followed him.

Before Monica left, Skinner called, "Agent Reyes, just one second please."

She turned and looked at him expectantly. "Sir?"

"Agent Mulder can be…stubborn, to say the least. You're going to have to learn how to handle him. I just wanted to warn you."

Monica nodded. "Well, thank you, Sir." She turned and left. She had assumed Mulder would wait for her to leave the office before he left. She looked around; he was nowhere to be seen.

The secretary saw her and said, "He left. He didn't even stop walking when Skinner called you back. It's a mystery whether he didn't hear or he didn't care."

"Oh," Monica whispered.

Monica made her way down to the basement office. As she went, she became more pissed off. Just leaving her there, was so uncool. He seemed like a perfect gentleman around Dana. She walked into the basement office and immediately became completely professional. "Agent Mulder," she stated.

He looked up at her. "Hey, what did Skinner want?"

So, he had heard Skinner. Well, she could play that game as well. "Nothing," Monica replied.

Mulder shrugged and looked back down at the file in front of him. "Well, you should take a look at this." He closed the file and tossed it to her. Monica caught it with ease. "I think we should talk to the local PD tomorrow. They might have more information and ideas. Meanwhile, I'll be working on a profile based on previous victims." Mulder rambled on.

Monica snapped the file shut. "Sounds like a plan." Mulder didn't seem to notice that she agreed. Monica sighed. This was going to be an interesting partnership.


End file.
